Serine/threonine kinase which acts as an essential component of the MAP kinase signal transduction pathway. MAPK13 is one of the four p38 MAPKs which play an important role in the cascades of cellular responses evoked by extracellular stimuli such as pro-inflammatory cytokines or physical stress leading to direct activation of transcription factors such as ELK1 and ATF2. Accordingly, p38 MAPKs phosphorylate a broad range of proteins and it has been estimated that they may have approximately 200 to 300 substrates each. MAPK13 is one of the less studied p38 MAPK isoforms. Some of the targets are downstream kinases such as MAPKAPK2, which are activated through phosphorylation and further phosphorylate additional targets. Plays a role in the regulation of protein translation by phosphorylating and inactivating EEF2K. Involved in cytoskeletal remodeling through phosphorylation of MAPT and STMN1. Mediates UV irradiation induced up-regulation of the gene expression of CXCL14. Plays an important role in the regulation of epidermal keratinocyte differentiation, apoptosis and skin tumor development. Phosphorylates the transcriptional activator MYB in response to stress which leads to rapid MYB degradation via a proteasome-dependent pathway. MAPK13 also phosphorylates and down-regulates PRKD1 during regulation of insulin secretion in pancreatic beta cells.