The full-length a and b variants of the rat plasma membrane calcium pump, isoform 2 (rPMCA2a and rPMCA2b), were constructed and expressed in COS-7 cells. To characterize these isoforms, calcium transport was determined in a microsomal fraction. Both rPMCA2a and rPMCA2b had a much higher affinity for calmodulin than the corresponding forms of hPMCA4, and rPMCA2b had the highest affinity among the isoforms that have been tested so far. When analyzed at a relatively high calmodulin concentration, rPMCA2b and, to a lesser extent, rPMCA2a showed higher apparent calcium affinity; i.e. they were more active at lower Ca 2؉ concentrations than hPMCA4b. This indicates that these two variants of rat isoform 2 will tend to maintain a lower free cytosolic Ca 2؉ level in cells where they are expressed. Both variants also showed a higher level of basal activity (in the complete absence of calmodulin) than hPMCA4b, a property which would reinforce their ability to maintain a low free cytosolic Ca 2؉ concentration. Experiments designed to determine the source of the higher apparent Ca 2؉ affinity of rPMCA2b showed that it came from the properties of the carboxyl terminus, rather than from any difference in the catalytic core.The plasma membrane Ca 2ϩ pump plays a key role in controlling the intracellular Ca 2ϩ concentration. This P-type ATPase is regulated by calmodulin and is responsible for the ATP powered removal of Ca 2ϩ from eukaryotic cells (1). The plasma membrane Ca 2ϩ pump (PMCA) 1 has a low level of activity in the absence of calmodulin. Calmodulin binds to an autoinhibitory domain (the C domain), and increases both the maximum velocity of the pump and the apparent Ca 2ϩ affinity.To date, at least four different genes have been found which encode for PMCA (2). Additional variability is obtained by alternate splices occurring at two sites in the pump (3-7). In each of the four genes, the alternative splice sites (8) are located in the middle of the cytosolic loop between transmembrane domains 2 and 3 (splice site A) (9) and downstream of the last transmembrane domain, in the middle of the calmodulinbinding domain (splice site C) (9 -11). The first 18 amino acids of the calmodulin-binding domain are conserved for all PMCA isoforms, but the presence of the alternative RNA splice site in the middle of this region (at splice site C) changes the remainder of the calmodulin-binding domain as well as the carboxyl terminus (10). The isoforms whose mRNA contains a spliced-in exon are called "a," while those isoforms lacking the additional exon are called "b." 2 The a variants of the isoforms have a less basic calmodulin-binding domain as well as a different carboxyl terminus than the b variants. When synthetic peptides corresponding to representative a and b forms of the calmodulinbinding domain were compared, the b form of the peptide showed a 10-fold higher affinity for calmodulin than the a form of the peptide (12). Additionally, full-length isoforms hPMCA4a and hPMCA4b were overexpressed in COS-1 cells and the calmodulin-res...