2؉ influx (SOC) elicited by thapsigargin-induced store depletion was not affected by SHIP. These results indicate that the primary target pathway of SHIP is the Ca
2؉release from the stores, and that Ca 2؉ influx by the SOC mechanism is secondarily controlled by the level of Ca (4,5). BCR activation also results in the activation of phosphoinositide 3-kinase, which converts PIP 2 to phosphatidylinositol 3,4,5-trisphosphate (PIP 3 ).In addition to BCR, B lymphocytes express another class of immunoreceptors, Fc␥RIIB. Co-cross-linking of BCR and Fc␥RIIB attenuates the BCR-induced Ca 2ϩ response (6-10). The attenuation of the Ca 2ϩ response requires the activation of the SH2 domain-containing inositol polyphosphate 5Ј-phosphatase (SHIP) (11-14), which catalyzes dephosphorylation of PIP 3 and inositol 1,3,4,5-tetrakisphosphate at their 5-position of the inositol ring in vitro (15,16).One of the possible target mechanisms of SHIP in the attenuation of the Ca 2ϩ response is the SOC activity. Since the Fc␥RIIB-mediated inhibition of Ca 2ϩ signaling was more prominent in the presence of extracellular Ca 2ϩ than in its absence (8 -10), SHIP was postulated to attenuate Ca 2ϩ influx via the SOC channel (11)(12)(13)17). Another potential target of SHIP is the PLC␥ activity. Since PIP 3 was reported to stimulate Bruton's tyrosine kinase (Btk), which in turn tyrosine-phosphorylates PLC␥ (18 -20), degradation of PIP 3 upon activation of SHIP by the co-cross-linking of Fc␥RIIB would decrease PLC␥ activity and hence inhibit Ca 2ϩ release from the stores. However, direct demonstration that SHIP affects SOC or Ca 2ϩ release in Fc␥RIIB-mediated signaling remains to be reported.It has been shown that cross-linking of BCR alone leads to tyrosine phosphorylation of SHIP (21, 22). Furthermore, SHIP seems to inhibit the BCR-mediated Ca 2ϩ response even without co-cross-linking of Fc␥RIIB, because SHIP-deficient cells exhibit prolongation of the [Ca 2ϩ ] i transient upon BCR activation (23). While SHIP is recruited to the immunoreceptor tyrosine-based inhibitory motif on the intracellular region of Fc␥RIIB upon activation of this receptor (11), there is no immunoreceptor tyrosine-based inhibitory motif on the BCR complex. Therefore, SHIP is not a unique molecule for Fc␥RIIB-mediated inhibitory signaling, but plays an important role in BCR-mediated signaling; the mechanisms of the recruitment of SHIP seem different in the absence or presence of Fc␥RIIB-mediated signaling. It remains to be clarified how Ca 2ϩ mobilization is attenuated by SHIP in BCR-mediated signaling.In an effort to understand the role of SHIP in BCR-mediated signaling, we addressed the following questions in this work: 1) how are the patterns of Ca 2ϩ mobilization elicited by BCR stimulation modulated by SHIP, and 2) which Ca 2ϩ mobilization pathway is affected by SHIP: Ca 2ϩ release or SOC. To clarify these points, we compared the patterns of [Ca 2ϩ ] i mobilization in control and SHIP-deficient DT40 cells at the single * This work was supported in part by grants ...