In isolated adipocytes, fast-acting lipolytic hormones and insulin have been shown previously to control lipolysis by regulating the activity of hormone-sensitive lipase, the rate-limiting enzyme, through an increase or decrease, respectively, of the extent of phosphorylation of the enzyme. Here, we demonstrate that exposure to lipolytic hormones (corticotropin, noradrenaline) led to phosphorylation at two sites on the Mr 84,000 lipase subunit. One, designated "basal site," was phosphorylated also in the absence of any hormonal stimulation, its phosphorylation apparently not being influenced by hormones. The second, designated "regulatory site," was identical to that phosphorylated by cyclic AMP-dependent protein kinase on the isolated lipase. The regulatory site was not appreciably phosphorylated in the absence of hormones, but exposure of the cells to noradrenaline increased its phosphorylation extent to that of the basal site. Insulin or the beta-adrenergic antagonist propranolol decreased the extent of phosphorylation of the regulatory site to the low level before stimulation, apparently without effect on the basal site. Phosphoserine was the only phosphorylated amino acid residue at both sites. Limited proteolytic digestion indicated that the two sites were separated by less than about 170 amino acid residues. Thus, control of adipose tissue lipolysis by fast-acting lipolytic hormones and by insulin is exerted through the regulation of the phosphorylation state of a single phosphoserine residue in the hormone-sensitive lipase.