Protein-tyrosine phosphorylation plays a critical role in the high-affinity IgE receptor (Fc epsilon RI) signaling. Here we investigated the involvement of the tyrosine kinase p72syk in Fc epsilon RI signaling in the rat mast cell line RBL-2H3. Specific antibodies were raised against peptides synthesized on the basis of the deduced peptide sequence of an essentially full-length rat syk cDNA. The expression of p72syk in RBL-2H3 cells was demonstrated with these antibodies. The aggregation of Fc epsilon RI led to the tyrosine phosphorylation of p72syk that was detected after 15 s of stimulation, reached a plateau by 5 min, and was not induced by calcium influx or protein kinase C activation. Association of p72syk with the tyrosine phosphorylated Fc epsilon RI gamma chain was detected only after receptor aggregation. We previously demonstrated that aggregation of the Fc epsilon RI on mast cells results in the tyrosine phosphorylation of a 72-kDa protein (pp72) involved in IgE signaling. The depletion of p72syk from RBL-2H3 cell lysates resulted in only a slight decrease in the amount of pp72. These results demonstrate that pp72 is composed of several phosphoproteins and identify p72syk as one component of pp72. These data, together with recent observations in T cells, indicate that the interaction between p72syk-related tyrosine kinases and zeta-related proteins could play an important role in signal transduction.