Memory formation is modulated by pre- and post-synaptic signaling events in neurons. The neuronal protein kinase Cyclin-Dependent Kinase 5 (Cdk5) phosphorylates a variety of synaptic substrates and is implicated in memory formation. It has also been shown to play a role in homeostatic regulation of synaptic plasticity in cultured neurons. Surprisingly, we found that Cdk5 loss of function in hip...

Mammalian Cdk5 is a member of the cyclin-dependent kinase family that is activated by a neuron-specific regulator, p35, to regulate neuronal migration and neurite outgrowth. p35/Cdk5 kinase colocalizes with and regulates the activity of the Pak1 kinase in neuronal growth cones and likely impacts on actin cytoskeletal dynamics through Pak1. Here, we describe a functional homologue of Cdk5 in bud...

Cyclin-dependent kinase 5 (Cdk5)/p35 kinase activity is known to decrease the affinity of beta-catenin for cadherin in developing cortical neurons. Our recent work demonstrated that depolarization causes an increased affinity between beta-catenin and cadherin. Here, we examine whether Cdk5/p35 regulates beta-catenin-cadherin affinity in response to neural activity. In hippocampal neurons depola...

Cyclin-dependent kinase 5 (Cdk5) is widely expressed although kinase activity has been described preferentially in neuronal systems. Cdk5 has an impact on actin polymerization during neuronal migration and neurite outgrowth and deregulation of the kinase has been implicated in the promotion of neurodegeneration. Recently it was shown that Cdk5 modulates dopamine signaling in neurons by regulati...

In addition to senile plaque and neurofibrillary tangles, granulovacuolar degeneration is a hallmark of Alzheimer's disease. A number of tau kinases, such as c-jun N-terminal kinase (JNK), glycogen-synthase kinase-3β (GSK3β), and casein kinase 1 (CK1), have been reported to be markers of granulovacuolar degeneration. In addition, cyclin-dependent kinase 5 (CDK5), which phosphorylates tau, has b...

OBJECTIVE Cyclin-dependent kinase 5 (CDK5) regulatory subunit-associated protein 1-like 1 has recently been linked to type 2 diabetes by genome-wide association studies. While CDK5 and its regulatory protein p35 are both expressed and display enzymatic activity in pancreatic β-cells, their precise role in the β-cell remains unknown. Because type 2 diabetes is characterized by a deficit in β-cel...

Cyclin dependent kinase 5 (Cdk5) is a proline-directed Ser/Thr kinase involved in various biological functions during normal brain development and neurodegeneration. In brain, Cdk5 activity is specific to post-mitotic neurons, due to neuronal specific expression of its activator p35. The biological functions of Cdk5 have been ascribed to its cytoplasmic substrates, however not much is known in ...

Abstract Pit-1 (POU1F1) is a POU-homeodomain transcription factor, and it one of the most important tissue-specific factors in pituitary development. Cyclin-dependent kinase 5 (CDK5) protein that can phosphorylate many key factors, but mechanism under which CDK5 phosphorylates unclear. To investigate whether regulate cell proliferation promote hormone secretion through phosphorylation Ser126-Pi...

The pathological characteristics of Alzheimer's Disease (AD) have been linked to the activity of three particular kinases--Glycogen Synthase Kinase 3β (GSK3β), Cyclin-Dependent Kinase 5 (CDK5) and Extracellular-signal Regulated Kinase 2 (ERK2). As a consequence, the design of selective, potent and drug-like inhibitors of these kinases is of particular interest. Structure-based design methods ar...

Cdk5 exists in brain extracts in multiple forms, one of which is a macromolecular protein complex comprising Cdk5, neuron-specific Cdk5 activator p35nck5a and other protein components (Lee, K.-Y., Rosales, J. L., Tang, D., and Wang, J.H. (1996) J. Biol. Chem. 271, 1538-1543). The yeast two-hybrid system was employed to identify p35nck5a-interacting proteins from a human brain cDNA library. One ...