Platelet activation is accompanied by a cascade of kinase reactions in which numerous specific proteins are phosphorylated on tyrosine. These events are strictly dependent upon functional activation of an integrin receptor, generally alpha IIb beta 3 (also known as glycoprotein IIb-IIIa). It is not known how alpha IIb beta 3 regulates protein tyrosine kinase activation and, in particular, neither this nor any other integrin has been shown to associate with a protein tyrosine kinase. We employed chemical crosslinking of intact platelets with the bifunctional reagents dithiobis(succinimidyl propionate) (DSP) (lipid-soluble) and dithiobis(sulphosuccinimidyl propionate) (DTSSP) (lipid-insoluble) followed by in vitro kinase assays of immunoprecipitated proteins to identify kinase activity associated with alpha IIb beta 3 in intact platelets. It was found that DSP but not DTSSP crosslinked kinase activity to alpha IIb beta 3, suggesting an internal association. In these immunoprecipitates from DSP-crosslinked platelets, the in vitro kinase reaction revealed a complex of several phosphoproteins in association with alpha IIb beta 3. This association was not seen when the resting platelets were lysed before crosslinking, indicating the specificity of the reaction in crosslinking only molecules in preformed spatial association. The beta 3 subunit of alpha IIb beta 3 was identified as one of the phosphoproteins in the complex obtained after subjecting anti-beta 3 immunoprecipitates from lysates of DSP-treated platelets to an in vitro kinase reaction and SDS/PAGE analysis. Phosphorylation of this subunit is shown to be predominantly on tyrosine. Affinity purification of the crosslinked phosphoprotein complex with anti-beta 3 followed by elution and re-precipitation identified pp60c-src and pp54/58c-lyn as two protein tyrosine kinases associating with the integrin. These results suggest that, upon platelet activation, alpha IIb beta 3 may provide a transmembrane focus for proteins involved in signal transduction.