The nuclear matrix isolated from HeLa cells and Rat2 fibroblasts harbor? tyrosine kinase and tyrosine phosphatase activities. Polypeptides of 53, 56 and 60 kDa, associated with this subnuclear structure, were phosphorylated at tyrosine in vivo. By immunoblot and immunolabelling experiments, we identified one of the nuclear-matrix-associated tyrosine kinases as Lyn, a Src family member. Lyn was distributed as foci throughout the matrix. The p56 and p53 isoforms of Lyn remained firmly associated with the nuclear matrix after a variety of matrix preparation procedures, and were not detectable in the chromatin fraction of the nucleus. The tyrosine kinase activity associated with the nuclear matrix showed cell-cycle-dependent changes, maximum activity being observed at the G,/S transition phase. Polyoma-virus-transformed rat fibroblast cells showed sixfold higher tyrosine kinase activity in the nuclear matrix preparations compared to that in untransformed cells. These observations are consistent with the suggestion that tyrosine kinase activity associated with the nuclear matrix may be an important determinant of cellular proliferation.Keywords: nuclear matrix ; Lyn tyrosine kinase ; cell cycle ; protein phosphorylation ; nuclear tyrosine kinase.Phosphorylation at tyrosine residues regulates properties of proteins such as enzyme activity, subcellular localization and intermolecular interaction. In eukaryotic cells, this modification effects the response of the cell to its external environment by helping to transmit signals from the cell membrane across the cytoplasm to the nucleus, where actual control of gene expression takes place [I]. The intracellular protein tyrosine kinases (PTKs) and protein tyrosine phosphatases (PTPs) are either associated with various structures such as the plasma membrane, endoplasmic reticulum, cytoskeleton, spindle fibres and mitochondria or are present in a soluble form in the cytoplasm [2, 31. The activities and substrate specificities of these enzymes in vivo are determined by phosphorylation, association with other proteins and subcellular compartmentalization [4, 51.Recent studies have identified the presence of tyrosine-phosphorylated proteins in the nucleus and their role in cell-cycle control and as transcription factors [6, 71. Both cytoplasmic and nuclear proteins are phosphorylated at tyrosine residues in the signalling pathway of mitogenesis. A few tyrosine kinases and phosphatases have been shown to localize to the nucleus, but their physiological functions have not been well defined 13, 81. PTKs known to localize to the nucleus constitutively are Wee 1, Abl, Fer/Fer T and Fgr 181. The Src tyrosine kinase, which is the prototype member of the Src family of kinases, is an ubiqui- tously expressed cytoplasmic enzyme and has been shown to be localized in the nucleus of calcium-induced differentiating keratinocytes 191. Studies on the subnuclear distribution of the tyrosine phosphorylated proteins and the PTKs and PTPs are generally lacking and could provide clues to the role of...