TPK-IIB is a protein kinase that is predominant in the cytosol of spleen and is characterized by a high specific activity toward acidic peptide substrates and a low auto-phosphorylation activity. A prominent 52-kDa component purifies with the kinase [Marin, O., Donella-Deana, A., Brunati, A. M., Fischer, S. & Pinna, L. A. (1991) J. Biol. Chem. 266, 17798-17803]. Here we demonstrate that the 52-kDa protein displays sequence identity with the Miller-Dieker lissencephaly protein (LIS 1). The protein is not related to any known protein kinase and lacks an ATP-binding motif. The ATP binding and phosphotransferase activities of TPK-IIB can be fully accounted for by a minor 38-kDa protein band (p38/TPK-IIB) which can be separated from the 52-kDa protein by Mono-Q/FPLC in the presence of EDTA. Sequence analysis of p38/TPK-IIB reveals a high level of similarity, if not identity, with the catalytic domain of p72syk, a protein-tyrosine kinase implicated in the activation of hematopoietic cells. Antibodies raised against the catalytic domain of p72syk, but not antibodies raised against its N-terminal segment, cross-react with p38/TPK-IIB. The peptide substrate specificity of p72syk is almost identical to that of p38/TPK-IIB, which also supports the classification of TPK-IIB as a close relative (possibly a proteolytic or alternative spliced form) of p72syk. p38/TPK-IIB, however, exhibits a specific activity which is sixfold higher than that of p72syk and appears to be 50-fold more sensitive to inhibition by heparin. Thus, the observation that Ca(2+)-dependent degradation of p72syk by particulate fraction of rat spleen is accompanied by increased catalytic activity and increased sensitivity to heparin would be consistent with the possibility that hyperactive p38/TPK-IIB might be proteolytically generated from p72syk in response to an increase of intracellular Ca2+.