The present study was undertaken in order to identify the inhibitory site of the heat-stable inhibitor of cAMP-dependent protein kinase (PKI) and to synthesize a peptide that could serve as a useful inhibitor of the enzyme. Digestion of purified PKI by mast cell proteinase II yielded a peptide fragment that retained inhibitory activity. A sequence of 20 amino acids of the peptide, (sequence in text) revealed the presence of a "pseudosubstrate site" (Arg-Arg-Asn-Ala-Ile) for the cAMP-dependent protein kinase in which alanine replaces the seryl or threonyl residue that is normally phosphorylated. Digestion of PKI with various other proteinases implicated the involvement of arginyl and hydrophobic residues as determinants for the inhibitory activity. The assumption that this region is part of the inhibitory site was confirmed by the synthesis of a corresponding duodecapeptide that displayed strong inhibitory activity. Inhibition by the peptide was competitive with a Ki of 0.8 microM as measured against a number of protein substrates. The sequence of this fragment bears a strong resemblance to the autophosphorylation site in the type II regulatory subunit of cAMP-dependent protein kinase, a region also postulated to interact with the catalytic subunit, and the analogous region of type I regulatory subunit. Neither intact PKI nor the synthetic peptide inhibit the cGMP-dependent protein kinase, phosphorylase kinase, myosin light-chain kinase, casein kinase II, or protein kinase C.