B lymphocyte antigen receptors (mIg) are non-covalently associated with a disulfide linked, inducibly phosphorylated glycoprotein complex.

T and B lymphocyte antigen receptors exhibit single transmembrane spanning regions and very short, three to five amino acid, C-terminal cytoplasmic tails. Ligation of these receptors leads, apparently through GTP binding protein activation, to rapid stimulation of a polyphosphoinositide specific phosphodiesterase (PPI-PDE). T lymphocyte antigen receptors (alpha beta) are coupled to PPI-PDE via a receptor associated complex of membrane proteins, designated CD3. Although an analogous transducer complex is presumed to exist in B cells, no such structure has been defined. We utilized in vitro [32P]phosphorylation to identify and characterize a membrane immunoglobulin (mIg) associated phosphoprotein complex which appears to represent a B cell analog of CD3. The phosphoprotein complex consists of three N-glycosylated polypeptides which occur as disulfide linked dimers, non-covalently associated with mIg. The complex associated with mIgM (pp32, pp34 and pp37 subunits) differs from that associated with mIgD (pp33, pp34 and pp37 subunits), and the isotype specific phosphoprotein (pp32 or pp33) appears to exist as a disulfide linked heterodimer with either pp34 or pp37. Aluminum fluoride stimulates phosphorylation of all of the subunits, and at least one of the proteins is phosphorylated on a tyrosine residue(s).