The rabbit muscle (M)-type receptor for secretory phospholipases A 2 (sPLA 2 s) has a large extracellular domain of 1394 amino acids, composed of an N-terminal cysteine-rich domain, a fibronectin-like type II domain, and eight carbohydrate recognition domains (CRDs). It is thought to mediate some of the physiological effects of mammalian sPLA 2 s, including vascular smooth muscle contraction and cell proliferation, and is able to internalize sPLA 2 s. Here, we show by site-directed mutagenesis that OS 1 , a snake venom sPLA 2 , binds to the receptor via its CRDs and that deletion of CRD 5 completely abolishes the binding of sPLA 2 s. Moreover, a receptor lacking all CRDs but CRD 5 was still able to bind OS 1 although with a lower affinity. Deletion of CRDs 4 and 6, surrounding the CRD 5, slightly reduced the affinity for OS 1 , thus suggesting that these CRDs are also involved in the binding of OS 1 . The M-type sPLA 2 receptor and the macrophage mannose receptor are homologous and are predicted to share the same tertiary structure. p-Aminophenyl-âŁ-D-mannopyranoside bovine serum albumin, a known ligand of the macrophage mannose receptor, binds to the M-type sPLA 2 receptor essentially via CRDs 3-6.