p44ek is a member of a family of tyrosyl-phosphorylated and mitogen-activated protein (MAP) Subsequently, an additional insulin-activated MAP kinase (p44") from a rat hepatoma cell line was purified and characterized (6). cDNA sequence data for rat p42naPk and p44cr*l revealed -90% amino acid identity between these MAP kinase isoforms (7) and -70% amino acid identity with partial sequences of sea star p44""k obtained by protein microsequencing (53). Enzymological analyses of highly purified preparations of p42mapk, p44ek*l, and p44mPk from various sources also supports their relatedness (6,26,55,65 [7,41], mouse [16], and guinea pig [43]). This * Corresponding author.implies the existence of specialized functions for the distinct isoforms or their differential regulation.Immunoblotting studies with antibodies generated against MAP kinase peptides have revealed additional, potentially related MAP kinase isoforms in extracts from sea star, frog, avian, and mammalian cells (5,63,64). One of these is a human 40-kDa MBP kinase that appears to physically associate with the human epidermal growth factor receptor (64). Another is a 46-kDa protein that has been tentatively designated p46e"*4 (5). Kyriakis and Avruch (35) have reported the purification of an activated 54-kDa MAP-2 kinase from the livers of cycloheximide-treated rats. This kinase exhibits -50% amino acid identity with rat p42maPk within its catalytic domain (3a Mammalian and frog MAP kinases are activated by -45-kDa kinases that catalyze their tyrosyl and threonyl phosphorylation (18,37,42,45,59,67,69