Calpain is a Ca2؉ -regulated cytosolic protease. Mammals have 14 calpain genes, half of which are predominantly expressed in specific organ(s); the rest are expressed ubiquitously. A defect in calpains causes lethality/pathogenicity, indicating their physiological indispensability. nCL-2/calpain-8a was identified as a stomach-specific calpain, whose physiological functions are unclear. To elucidate these, we characterized nCL-2 in detail. Unexpectedly, nCL-2 was localized strictly to the surface mucus cells in the gastric epithelium and the mucus-secreting goblet cells in the duodenum. Yeast twohybrid screening identified several nCL-2-intracting molecules. Of these, the -subunit of coatomer complex (-COP) occurs in the stomach pit cells and is proteolyzed by nCL-2 in vitro. Furthermore, -COP and nCL-2 co-expressed in COS7 cells co-localized in the Golgi, and Ca 2؉ -ionophore stimulation caused the proteolysis of -COP near the linker region, resulting in the dissociation of -COP from the Golgi. These results strongly suggest novel functions for nCL-2 that involve the membrane trafficking of mucus cells via interactions with coat protein.Calpain (EC 3.4.22.17) is an intracellular Ca 2ϩ -regulated cysteine protease, comprising a superfamily in most organisms, including some bacteria, budding yeasts, fungi, plants, and animals. Calpains proteolyze specific substrates at very limited sites to irreversibly modify/modulate their functions, structures, and activities, and are thus called "modulator proteases." Fourteen calpain genes have been identified in humans and mice and can be classified into two categories according to their expression, i.e. ubiquitous or tissue-specific (1-3). Ubiquitous -and m-calpains, two major calpains in mammals, form a heterodimer composed of a distinct 80-kDa catalytic large subunit (abbreviated to "CL" and "mCL," respectively) 2 and a common 30-kDa regulatory small subunit (30K). Calpain three-dimensional structures define four (I-IV) and two (V and VI) domains in the large and small subunits, respectively: the regulatory N-terminal domain (I), the protease domain (II), the C2-domain-like Ca 2ϩ /phospholipid-binding domain (III), the penta-EF-hand domains (IV and VI), and the Glyclustering domain (V) (4, 5). In the absence of Ca 2ϩ , the protease domain (II) is further divided into two subdomains, IIa and IIb, which form a single active domain upon binding to Ca 2ϩ (6, 7). Genetic studies in mammals and other organisms have clearly shown the physiological indispensability of the calpains. A gene knock-out mouse with a mutation in the gene for 30K, Capn4, exhibits embryonic lethality (8); mutations in the human gene for skeletal-muscle-specific p94/calpain 3, CAPN3, are responsible for limb-girdle muscular dystrophy type 2A (9); and a single nucleotide polymorphism in intron 3 of the human gene for calpain 10, CAPN10, is associated with type 2 diabetes (10). Mutations in the calpain genes of various other organisms, including yeasts, plants, nematodes, and Drosophila, result in sign...