Chemically modified calmodulins have been used to investigate structural features which are important for the interaction of the activator with targets. Carbamoylation of lysine residues had no influence on the ability of calmodulin to stimulate the plasma membrane CaZ +-ATPase whereas the stimulation of the bovine brain cyclicnucleotide phosphodiesterase was reduced up to 50%. Different species of carbamoylated calmodulin have been isolated but no differences were detected in their interaction with the cyclic-nucleotide phosphodiesterase. Modification of arginine residues by 1,2-~yclohexanedione had no effect on the stimulation of the phosphodiesterase but reduced by 40% the stimulation of the erythrocyte CaZ + ATPase. Mild oxidation of methionines by N-chlorsuccinimide produced a number of differently modified calmodulins. The different species have been purified and the modified residues have been identified. They affected the two different test enzymes to different extents indicating that methionines in the central helix of calmodulin are of greater importance for the interaction with the phosphodiesterase, whereas methionines located in the C-terminal half of calmodulin are more important for the interaction with the CaZ+-ATPase.Calmodulin (CaM) is the major modulator of the intracellular Ca2+ message [l, 21. It undergoes profound conformational changes upon binding of Ca2 + (see [3 -51 for recent reviews), resulting in the increase of the a-helical content [6] and in the exposure of hydrophobic sites [7]. The crystal structure of CaM in the Cazt-bound form [8] shows a dumb-bell-shaped molecule, with an eight-turn central a helix spanning residues 66 -92. Information on the structural aspects of the interaction of CaM with targets is still very scarce. The CaM-binding domain of myosin light-chain kinase from skeletal [9] and smooth muscle [lo, 111 has recently been isolated and sequenced. In analogy with the primary structure of CaM-binding peptides [12-141 it consists of clusters of basic amino acids and of stretches of hydrophobic residues, conferring to the domain amphipathic properties. It may be interesting to mention in this context that most anticalmodulin drugs are hydrophobic molecules containing positive charges [15, 161. It has been shown that the a-helical content of the CaM-binding domain of myosin light-chain kinase increases upon binding to CaM [9, 171. No structural information is available on the CaM-binding domain of the Ca2 +-pumping ATPase of plasma membranes, but recent work has indicated that its CaM-interacting region is a terminal sequence of approximately 9 kDa [18], consisting of a 4-kDa CaM-binding domain, and of a 5-kDa sequence which is essential for the expression of CaM stimulation [19]. Studies with proteolytic fragments of CaM have indicated that different regions of the molecule may be involved in its interaction with different targets [20, 211. In particular, the region encompassing the third Ca2+-binding loop (residues 91 -106) appears to play an important role in the i...