The microsomal fraction of the pig kidney catalyzes the glucuronidation of estrone in the presence of UDP-glucuronic acid. This bireactant system exhibits a sequential type of reaction mechanism. Increasing concentrations of either substrate increase the affinity of the enzyme for the other substrate. The Hill coefficient, n, was calculated to be 1.0 for both estrone and UDP-glucuronic acid. The Kestrone and KUDP-glucuronic acid are 6.6 muM and 254 muM, respectively. The estrone glucuronyltransferase (UDP-glucuronate: 17 beta-oestradiol 3-glucuronosyltransferase, EC 2.4.1.59) exhibits high substrate specificity in that it is inhibited noncompetetively by estradiol-17 beta, estradiol-17 alpha, estriol, testosterone, phenolphthalein and bilirubin; p-nitrophenol and o-aminophenol do not inhibit the glucuronidation of estrone. Mg2+ and Ca2+ were found to be nonessential activators. One of the two products of the reaction, estrone glucuronide, inhibits the enzyme competitively in the presence of increasing concentrations of UDP-glucuronic acid. The other product of the reaction, UDP, inhibits the enzyme noncompetitively with varying estrone concentrations and uncompetitively with varying UDP-glucuronic acid concentrations. Under incubation conditions for the glucuronidation of estrone, the enzyme catalyzes the reverse reaction with estrone glucuronide and UDP as reactants to an extent of about 0.4% of the forward reaction; this reverse reaction is also of a sequential type.