Phosphatidylserine synthase (Pss) is involved in the metabolic pathway in phospholipid synthesis in different organisms. In this study, Pss expression in Vibrio parahaemolyticus was verified through liquid chromatography tandem-mass spectrometry. To analyze the characteristics of Pss, the recombinant Pss was overexpressed and purified from Escherichia coli. The optimum temperature and pH of Pss were 40 degrees C and 8, respectively. When reacting with divalent metal, Pss activity decreased. In addition, Pss could not only use cytidine diphosphate diacylglycerol (CDP-DAG, 16:0), but also CDP-DAG (18:1) as a substrate to produce cytidine 5 '-monophosphate. Furthermore, the 3D structure of Pss was predicted, and the results revealed that histidine and lysine of the two HKD motifs were present in the catalytic site. Moreover, CDP-DAG (16:0) was docked with the Pss model. To investigate whether the two HKD motifs in Pss are important to its activity, site-directed mutagenesis of histidine was performed. The results revealed that the activities of both H131A and H352A were diminished. Little is known regarding the catalytic site of type I Pss. This is the first report on the biochemical characterization of Pss in V. parahaemolyticus.