NEMO (NF-B essential modulator) plays a key role in the canonical NF-B pathway as the scaffold/regulatory component of the I B kinase (IKK) complex. The selfassociation of NEMO involves the C-terminal halves of the polypeptide chains containing two putative coiledcoil motifs (a CC2 and a LZ leucine zipper), a prolinerich region, and a ZF zinc finger motif. Using purified truncation mutants, we showed that the minimal oligomerization domain of NEMO is the CC2-LZ segment and that both CC2 and LZ subdomains are necessary to restore the LPS-dependent activation of the NF-B pathway in a NEMO-deficient cell line. We confirmed the association of the oligomerization domain in a trimer and investigated the specific role of CC2 and LZ subdomains in the building of the oligomer. Whereas a recombinant CC2-LZ polypeptide self-associated into a trimer with an association constant close to that of the wildtype protein, the isolated CC2 and LZ peptides, respectively, formed trimers and dimers with weaker association constants. Upon mixing, isolated CC2 and LZ peptides associated to form a stable hetero-hexamer as shown by gel filtration and fluorescence anisotropy experiments. We propose a structural model for the organization of the oligomerization domain of activated NEMO in which three C-terminal domains associate into a pseudo-hexamer forming a six-helix bundle. This model is discussed in relation to the mechanism of activation of the IKK complex by upstream activators.The NF-B signaling pathway plays a central role in the regulation of gene expression pertaining to inflammation, the immune response, oncogenesis, and apoptosis (1-5). In this canonical pathway, pro-inflammatory stimuli promote NF-B activation via phosphorylation of I B inhibitors by the kinases of the IKK 1 complex. This phosphorylation is in turn followed by ubiquitination and degradation of I B by the proteasome, allowing the NF-B transcription factors to enter the nucleus and to activate their target genes (4).The IKK complex contains two protein kinases, IKK-␣ and IKK-, and a structural/regulatory subunit called NEMO (NF-B essential modulator) or IKK-␥ (6 -8). NEMO is the key regulator of the NF-B pathway as genetic inactivation abolishes signaling in response to several extracellular stimuli (6, 9, 10). The activation of IKK- is mediated through the trans-phosphorylation between IKK kinases (11). The mechanism by which NEMO is activated remains unclear and several factors have been proposed to be involved, including phosphorylation (12) and ubiquitination (13). Indeed, the de-ubiquitinating enzyme CYLD negatively regulates NF-B activation by specific tumor-necrosis factor receptors (14, 15) and was recently shown to 16). Converging evidence suggests that NEMO oligomerization plays a crucial role in the activation of the IKK complex. Indeed, IKK can be activated by the enforced oligomerization of NEMO through the fusion with the FKBP12 polypeptide (17, 18) or through oligomerization of the equine herpes virus-2 vCLAP protein, a NEMO-binding protein (19...