The amino acid sequence of the monomeric 2,3-bisphosphoglycerate (BPG)-dependent phosphoglycerate mutase (PGAM) from the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe has been determined. Amino acid sequencing of proteolytic fragments of the enzyme showed the S. pombe mutase to be similar in sequence to the tetrameric enzyme of baker's yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae). An S. pombe cDNA library was screened using a PCR fragment generated from two oligonucleotides complementary to sequences encoding the regions at the two active-site histidine residues. The 0.63 kb cDNA encoded an open reading frame of 210 amino acids. This sequence agreed completely with sequences of peptides derived from the purified protein. The amino acid sequence of S. pombe PGAM is 43% identical with that of S. cerevisiae PGAM and shows an equally high degree of identity with BPG-dependent PGAMs from other sources. However, the sequence of the S. pombe enzyme differs from other BPG-dependent enzymes in three important ways: (i) it does not contain the alanine- and lysine-rich sequence of amino acids at the C-terminus which have been proposed to constitute a flexible tail involved in catalysis; (ii) the sequence spanning residues 122-146 (S. cerevisiae PGAM numbering) is not present in the S. pombe PGAM sequence; in the S. cerevisiae PGAM crystal structure this stretch of sequence has been shown to occur as an extended loop, part of which is involved in inter-subunit interactions; (iii) the amino acid sequence in the region of a second S. cerevisiae inter-subunit contact (residues 74-78) shows radical mutations in the S. pombe enzyme.