STIMULATION BY NACL, POLYLYSINE AND HEPARIN OF 2 FORMS OF SPLEEN TYROSINE PROTEIN-KINASE IMMUNOLOGICALLY RELATED WITH THE PROTEIN EXPRESSED BY LYN ONCOGENE

The previously isolated spleen tyrosine protein kinase, conventionally termed TPK-IIA, displaying activation by either positively or negatively charged polyelectrolytes (Brunati, A.M. and Pinna, L.A. (1988) Eur. J. Biochem. 172, 451-457) has been further characterized. TPK-IIA is immunologically related with the tyrosine protein kinase encoded by the lyn gene, a member of src subfamily and is dramatically activated by very high NaCl concentration. The stimulatory effects of NaCl and polylysine, which are not additive, are accounted for by increased V(max) values, the K(m) being virtually unchanged, suggesting that both effectors probably interact with the same site(s). Stimulation of TPK-IIA by heparin appears to be partially additive to that promoted by NaCl and possibly occurring through a different mechanism. The NaCl activatory effect correlates with the electrolytic nature of synthetic peptides used as substrates, being much more consistent with neutral peptides as compared with acidic ones. Of the other three spleen tyrosine protein kinases, TPK-I shows similar biochemical and immunological features, suggestive of close relatedness with TPK-IIA, while TPK-IIB and TPK-III are neither related with the lyn protein nor with the products of three other oncogenes of the src subfamily, namely lck, hck and fyn.