Inositol polyphosphate 1-phosphatase, an enzyme of the phosphatidylinositol signaling pathway, catalyzes the hydrolysis of the 1-position phosphate from inositol 1,3,4-trisphosphate and inositol 1,4-bisphosphate. The protein was isolated from calf brain and digested with trypsin or CNBr, and the amino acid sequence of several peptides was determined. Degenerate oligonucleotide primers were designed from amino acid sequence and used to synthesize an 80-base-pair (bp) fragment by the polymerase chain reaction. This product was used to isolate a 1.6-kbp cDNA with an open reading frame of 400 amino acids, 185 bp of 5' untranslated region, and 171 bp of 3' untranslated region followed by a putative poly(A) tail. The coding region of the cDNA was inserted into an expression vector that was used to obtain the recombinant protein from Escherichia coli cells. The recombinant enzyme (44 kDa) had a specific activity and other properties similar to those of native bovine brain inositol polyphosphate 1-phosphatase. It hydrolyzed both inositol phosphate substrates and was inhibited by lithium ions. The enzyme shows minimal sequence similarity to inositol monophosphate phosphatase, the other enzyme inhibited by lithium ions in the signaling pathway.