MAK-V/Hunk is a recently isolated MARK/Par-1-related mammalian protein kinase with yet unknown function. To investigate transcriptional regulation of the mouse mak-v/Hunk gene, we isolated genomic fragment of the mouse mak-v/Hunk promoter region. The mak-v/Hunk promoter has no typical TATA box or CAAT box, is GC-rich and contains CpG-island. Amplification of cDNA ends suggested that transcription initiation site is 156 nt upstream translation initiation site. The 5'-flanking region of the mak-v/Hunk gene was ligated to luciferase reporter gene and possessed functional promoter activity. Luciferase assay with a series of truncated 5'-flanking regions demonstrated the region between nt -508 and -347 has a pronounced stimulating effect on transcription activity. In addition, our data suggest that mak-v/Hunk promoter region might be a target for CpG methylation.