The properties of purified mammalian adenosine 3′:5′-cyclic monophosphate (cAMP)- and guanosine 3′:5′-cyclic monophosphate (cGMP)-dependent protein kinases were compared. Several physical characteristics of the two enzymes were similar, including size, shape, affinity for cyclic nucleotide binding, and K_m for ATP. In addition, the amino acid composition of the two proteins indicated a close composition homology (70-90%). Both cyclic nucleotide-dependent protein kinases catalyzed phosphorylation of rat liver pyruvate kinase (EC 2.7.1.40) and fructose 1,6-diphosphatase (EC 3.1.3.11), rabbit skeletal muscle glycogen synthase (EC 2.4.1.11) and phosphorylase b kinase (EC 2.7.1.38), and calf thymus histone H₂b. The phosphorylation of several synthetic peptides and of trypsin-sensitive and trypsin-insensitive sites in glycogen synthase suggested similar recognition sites on the protein substrates for the two kinases. The cAMP-dependent protein kinase was the better catalyst with each protein or peptides substrate. The results suggest that the two enzymes evolved from a common ancestral protein.