Cyclin-dependent kinase 5 (Cdk5) is a proline-directed serine/threonine protein kinase that requires association with a regulatory protein, p35 or p39, to form an active enzyme. Munc18-1 plays an essential role in membrane fusion, and its function is regulated by phosphorylation. We report here that both p35 and p39 were expressed in insulin-secreting -cells, where they exhibited individual subcellular distributions and associated with membranous organelles of different densities. Overexpression of Cdk5, p35, or p39 showed that Cdk5 and p39 augmented Ca 2؉ -induced insulin exocytosis. Suppression of p39 and Cdk5, but not of p35, by antisense oligonucleotides selectively inhibited insulin exocytosis. Transient transfection of primary -cells with Munc18-1 templates mutated in potential Cdk5 or PKC phosphorylation sites, in combination with Cdk5 and the different Cdk5 activators, suggested that Cdk5/p39-promoted Ca 2؉ -dependent insulin secretion from primary -cells by phosphorylating Munc18-1 at a biochemical step immediately prior to vesicle fusion.Exocytosis of insulin from pancreatic -cells has been suggested to be mediated by the same core fusion machinery that controls all membrane fusion events in organisms ranging from yeast to human (1-3). The soluble N-ethylmaleimide sensitive factor attachment protein receptor (SNARE) 1 proteins are essential components of this machinery. Proteins localized in the membrane of the transported vesicle (v-SNAREs) specifically interact with proteins in the target membrane (t-SNAREs). In neurotransmitter release from synaptic vesicles, the plasma membrane-associated proteins syntaxin and synaptosomal-associated protein of 25 kDa (SNAP-25) interact with the vesicular component synaptobrevin/vesicular-associated membrane protein (VAMP) (reviewed in Refs. 4 -6). Several synaptic proteins regulating neuronal exocytosis including syntaxin, SNAP-25, VAMP, and Munc18-1 have also been identified in pancreatic -cells, supporting the idea that the molecular machinery regulating insulin secretion is similar to that of neurotransmitter release from synaptic vesicles (7-11).There are a series of discrete biochemical steps leading to trans-SNARE complex formation and vesicular fusion. The vesicles need to be transported and targeted to the cell surface where they are docked, primed, and finally fused with the plasma membrane. Munc18-1, a member of the sec1/Munc18 protein family has emerged as a critical regulator of exocytosis (12)(13)(14). Indeed, Munc18-1 is shown to be important for vesicle trafficking and essential for synaptic transmission since both synaptic transmission and spontaneous neurotransmitter release is abolished in neocortical neurons from Munc18-1-null mouse mutants (15). Albeit essential for regulated exocytosis, it has been demonstrated both in pancreatic -cells and in neuronal systems, that Munc18-1 may also serve as a negative regulator of secretion (11,16,17). Munc18-1 binds to syntaxin 1 and might thus negatively regulate syntaxin 1 function if the expressi...