Identification and Structure Characterization of a Cdk Inhibitory Peptide Derived from Neuronal-specific Cdk5 Activator*

The activation of cyclin-dependent kinase 5 (Cdk5) depends on the binding of its neuronal specific activator Nck5a. The minimal activation domain of Nck5a is located in the region of amino acid residues 150 to 291 (Tang, D., Chun, A. C. S., Zhang, M., and Wang, J. H. (1997) J. Biol. Chem. 272, 12318-12327). In this work we show that a 29-residue peptide, denoted as the alphaN peptide, encompassing amino acid residues Gln145 to Asp173 of Nck5a …