Highly purified casein kinase II (CK II) isozymes from bovine brain gray matter (BBGM) were obtained by means of a new purification procedure consisting of one phosphocellulose and three Mono-Q steps. The phosphocellulose eluate showed two BBGM-CK II activities. The first minor component (BBGM-CK IIa) was eluted with 0.9 M NaCl and the major component was eluted at 1.1 M NaCl (BBGM-CK IIb). The protein complexes responsible for these two activities were comprised of three subunits, i.e., alpha (40 kDa), alpha' (38 kDa), and beta (28 kDa), with various subunit ratios. The two isozymes displayed the same behavior on Superose 12 fast protein liquid chromatographic gel filtration and sucrose density centrifugation. BBGM-CK IIa and b showed chromatographic and biochemical differences including differing Km for ATP and GTP and Ki for heparin and 2,3-bisphosphoglycerate. The properties of the main peak (BBGM-CK IIb) were studied in detail. The stimulatory effect of Mg2+, Mn2+, and Co2+ was highly dependent both on the nature of the substrate and on ionic type and concentration. It is surprising that with phosvitin as substrate, BBGM-CK IIb was fully active even in the absence of Mg2+ and NaCl. The inhibitory effect of heparin and the stimulatory effects of NaCl, KCl, spermine, and polylysine were highly dependent on the ionic strength, buffer type, and substrate. BBGM-CK II isozymes phosphorylated stathmine in the presence of polylysine, but the requirement for polybasic compounds was not absolute, as is the case with calmodulin and clathrin beta-light chain.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)