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The Acknowledgments section was omitted. It should read: A part of the work is based upon research conducted at the Northeastern Collaborative Access Team beamline 24ID of the Advanced Photon Source, supported by award RR-15301 from the National Center for Research Resources at the U.S. National Institutes of Health. Use of the Advanced Photon Source is supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, under contract No. W-31-109-ENG-38.

The p90 ribosomal protein kinase 2 (RSK2) is a highly expressed Ser/Thr kinase activated by growth factors and is involved in cancer cell proliferation and tumor promoter-induced cell transformation. RSK2 possesses two non-identical kinase domains, and the structure of its N-terminal domain (NTD), which is responsible for phosphorylation of a variety of substrates, is unknown. The crystal structure of the NTD RSK2 was determined at 1.8 A resolution in complex with AMP-PNP. The N-terminal kinase domain adopted a unique active conformation showing a significant structural diversity of the kinase domain compared to other kinases. The NTD RSK2 possesses a three-stranded betaB-sheet inserted in the N-terminal lobe, resulting in displacement of the alphaC-helix and disruption of the Lys-Glu interaction, classifying the kinase conformation as inactive. The purified protein was phosphorylated at Ser227 in the T-activation loop and exhibited in vitro kinase activity. A key characteristic is the appearance of a new contact between Lys216 (betaB-sheet) and the beta-phosphate of AMP-PNP. Mutation of this lysine to alanine impaired both NTDs in vitro and full length RSK2 ex vivo activity, emphasizing the importance of this interaction. Even though the N-terminal lobe undergoes structural re-arrangement, it possesses an intact hydrophobic groove formed between the alphaC-helix, the beta4-strand, and the betaB-sheet junction, which is occupied by the N-terminal tail. The presence of a unique betaB-sheet insert in the N-lobe suggests a different type of activation mechanism for RSK2.