A monoclonal antibody was made using the spleen cells of a mouse immunized with chick synaptic membranes and designated as mAb 1D12. It immunoprecipitated 25% of the omega-conotoxin binding protein but no dihydropyridine binding protein solubilized from chick brain membranes. By immunoblotting, a polypeptide of 58-kDa was identified as the antigen of this antibody in chick, rat, rabbit and guinea pig brain. Immunohistochemical observation indicated the immunoreactivity of mAb 1D12 to be localized in the synaptic regions of central and peripheral neurons. In peripheral organs, there was additional staining in the distal portions of nerve fibers. Immunoelectron microscopy showed immunoreactivity to be located in synaptic vesicle and presynaptic plasma membranes. In the subcellular fractionation of rat brain, 58-kDa protein was recovered in the fractions of synaptic vesicles and plasma membranes but not soluble proteins. This protein could be extracted from membranes by Triton X-100 but treatment with EDTA, acid, base or high salt failed to have such effect. Solubilized 58-kDa protein of rat brain was purified by immunoaffinity chromatography using mAb 1D12. Both protein kinase C and Ca2+/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II (CaM kinase II) phosphorylated purified 58-kDa protein, and maxima of 0.47 and 0.94 mol of phosphates, respectively, were incorporated per mol of 58-kDa protein. 58-kDa protein was not phosphorylated by either cAMP-dependent or cGMP-dependent protein kinase. When present in membranes, it was also phosphorylated by protein kinase C and CaM kinase II. Possible involvement of 58-kDa protein in the protein kinase C and CaM kinase II-mediated regulation of synaptic transmission in central and peripheral neurons is discussed.