The activity of the major intracellular protein phosphatase, protein phosphatase 2A (PP2A), is determined by the nature of the associated regulatory subunit. A new family of human PP2A regulatory subunits has recently been identified. Three of these subunits, B56beta, B56delta, and B56epsilon, are most highly expressed in brain, while the B56alpha and B56gamma isoforms are highly expressed in cardiac and skeletal muscle. Genes PPP2R5A-PPP2R5E encoding the phosphatase regulatory proteins B56alpha, B56beta, B56gamma, B56delta, and B56epsilon have now been mapped by fluorescence in situ hybridization to chromosome regions 1q41, 11q12, 3p21, 6p21.1, and 7p11.2 --> p12, respectively.