A soluble protein from Saccharomyces cerevisiae specifically provides protection against a thiolcontaining oxidation system but not against an oxidation system without thiol. This 25-kDa protein was thus named thiol-dependent protector protein (TPP). The role of TPP in the cellular defense against oxidative stress was investigated in Escherichia coli containing an expression vector with a yeast genomic DNA fragment that encodes TPP (strain YP) and a mutant in which the catalytically essential amino acid in the active site of TPP (Cys-47) has been replaced with alanine by site-directed mutagenesis (strain YPC47A). There was a distinct difference between these two strains in regard to viability, modulation of activities of superoxide dismutase and catalase, and the oxidative damage of DNA upon exposure to menadione. These results suggest that TPP may play a direct role in the cellular defense against oxidative stress by functioning as an antioxidant protein.