PAK1 (phospho Thr402) Antibody

In mammals, there are several identified isoforms of p21-activated protein kinases or PAKs: alpha-PAK (also known as PAK-1) and beta-PAK (also known as PAK-3) are mostly brain-specific, while -PAK (also known as PAK-2) is expressed ubiquitously (Jakobi et al., 2003) . Mutations of the gene coding for PAK-3 are associated with X-linked mental retardation and recent work indicates that PAK-3 is a key regulator of synapse formation and plasticity in the hippocampus (Boda et al., 2004) . PAK-3 is thought to play a key role in regulation of cell shape and motility as well as cell death (Jakobi et al., 2003; Walter et al., 1998) . Autophosphorylation of Thr402 in the protein has been found to be essential for activation of PAK (Jakobi et al., 2000) .

Phosphopeptide corresponding to amino acid residues surrounding the phospho-Thr402 of rat p21 activated kinase 2 (PAK-2) . The peptide sequence used is identical in PAK-1, 2 and 3. Note: Thr402 in PAK-2 corresponds to Thr423 in human PAK-1.

The antibody has been directly tested for reactivity in Western blots with rat tissue. It is anticipated that the antibody will react with bovine, canine, human and mouse based on the fact that these species have 100% homology with the amino acid sequence used as antigen.

Boda B, Alberi S, Nikonenko I, Node-Langlois R, Jourdain P, Moosmayer M, Parisi-Jourdain L, Muller D (2004) The mental retardation protein PAK-3 contributes to synapse formation and plasticity in hippocampus. J Neurosci 24:10816-10825.

Jakobi R, Huang Z, Walter BN, Tuazon PT, Traugh JA (2000) Substrates enhance autophosphorylation and activation of p21-activated protein kinase gamma-PAK in the absence of activation loop phosphorylation. Eur J Biochem 267:4414-4421.

Jakobi R, McCarthy CC, Koeppel MA, Stringer DK (2003) Caspase-activated PAK-2 is regulated by subcellular targeting and proteasomal degradation. J Biol Chem 278:38675-38685.