We have undertaken studies to identify amino acid residues that are involved in the catalytic mechanism of argininosuccinate synthetase [L-citrulline:L-aspartate ligase (AMP-forming), EC 6.3.4.5] and have found that a cysteine residue and an arginine residue are required for activity. The reactive cysteine residues are accessible to solvent and available to react with 5,5'-dithiobis(2-nitrobenzoic acid) (DTNB). Four cysteine residues, one per subunit, are shown by enzymatic assay to be required for catalytic activity, suggesting that a reactive cysteine lies within the active site of argininosuccinate synthetase. In the presence of sodium dodecyl sulfate, 12 cysteine residues react with DTNB; consequently, all of the half-cystine residues in the native enzyme are present in the reduced sulfhydryl form. We also present evidence for the participation of arginine groups in the binding of ATP and PPi. Modification of argininosuccinate synthetase with [14C]-phenylglyoxal results in incorporation concomitant with loss of catalytic activity of 4 mol of phenylglyoxal per mol of native enzyme (one arginine per active site). ATP and PPi protect the enzyme from phenylglyoxal incorporation. Based on these results, we propose that the essential arginine in the active site participates in the binding of ATP and PPi. The binding of ATP and PPi at the same site is mutually exclusive; this exclusion is in accord with the finding that argininosuccinate synthetase has one reactive arginine residue per active site per subunit. This is consistent with our previously proposed reaction mechanism.