Cross-linking of membrane immunoglobulin (mIg), the B lymphocyte antigen receptor, with anti-receptor antibodies stimulates tyrosine phosphorylation of a number of proteins, including one of 42 kDa. Proteins with a similar molecular mass are tyrosine-phosphorylated in response to receptor stimulation in other cell types and have been identified as serine/threonine kinases, termed mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinases or extracellular signal-regulated kinases (ERKs). The MAP kinases constitute a family of related kinases, at least three of which have molecular masses of 40-45 kDa. In this paper we show that mIg cross-linking stimulated the myelin basic protein phosphotransferase activity characteristic of MAP kinase in both mature and immature murine B cell lines. This enzyme activity co-purified on three different columns with a 42 kDa protein that was tyrosine-phosphorylated (pp42) in response to mIg cross-linking and which reacted with a panel of anti-(MAP kinase) antibodies. Although immunoblotting with the anti-(MAP kinase) antibodies showed that these B cell lines expressed both 42 kDa and 44 kDa forms of MAP kinase, only the 42 kDa form was activated and tyrosine-phosphorylated to a significant extent. Activation of protein kinase C (PKC) with phorbol esters also resulted in selective tyrosine phosphorylation and activation of the 42 kDa MAP kinase. This suggested that mIg-induced MAP kinase activation could be due to stimulation of PKC by mIg. However, mIg-stimulated MAP kinase activation and pp42 tyrosine phosphorylation was only partially blocked by a PKC inhibitor, the staurosporine analogue Compound 3. In contrast, Compound 3 completely blocked the ability of phorbol esters to stimulate MAP kinase activity and induce tyrosine phosphorylation of pp42. Thus mIg may activate MAP kinase by both PKC-dependent and -independent mechanisms.