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The effect of vitamin B6deficiency on the expression of glycogen phosphorylase mRNA in rat liver and skeletal muscle was investigated. The level of phosphorylase mRNA in the muscle of vitamin B6-deficient rats was reduced to 40% of that in the control rats. By contrast, the phosphorylase mRNA level was increased 5-fold in the liver of the deficient animals. It was also found that the expression of the β-actin gene, generally regarded as a ‘housekeeping’ gene, was unaffected by B6deficiency in the muscle but was enhanced in the liver of the deficient animals. These observations suggest that vitamin B6may modulate the transcriptional activation of the phosphorylase gene in a tissue-specific manner.