We have identified a major calmodulin (CaM)-binding protein in rat liver endosomes using 125 I-CaM overlays from two-dimensional protein blots. Immunostaining of blots demonstrates that this protein is the polymeric immunoglobulin receptor (pIgR). We further investigated the interaction between pIgR and CaM using Madin-Darby canine kidney cells stably expressing cloned wild-type and mutant pIgR. We found that detergent-solubilized pIgR binds to CaM-agarose in a Ca 2؉ -dependent fashion, and binding is inhibited by the addition of excess free CaM or the CaM antagonist W-13 (N-(4-aminobutyl)-5-chloro-2-naphthalenesulfonamide), suggesting that pIgR binding to CaM is specific. The plasma membrane of polarized epithelial cells is divided into apical and basolateral surfaces, each having a distinct protein and lipid composition. Cells use two pathways to deliver proteins to the correct surface. First, newly made proteins are packaged in the trans-Golgi network (TGN) 1 into vesicles that deliver them directly to either the apical or basolateral surface. Second, proteins can be delivered first to one surface and then endocytosed and transcytosed to the opposite surface. At least in the well polarized Madin-Darby canine kidney (MDCK) cell line, targeting to the basolateral surface generally requires a sorting signal located in the cytoplasmic domain of the protein. For a number of basolateral proteins it has been found that mutations in the cytoplasmic domain prevent TGN to basolateral targeting (1). The first basolateral signal to be identified is the 17-amino acid membrane proximal segment (residues 653-670) of the cytoplasmic domain of the polymeric immunoglobulin receptor (pIgR) (2). This protein is normally delivered from the TGN to the basolateral surface, and then endocytosed and transcytosed to the apical surface. Deletion of most of this 17-residue segment prevents TGN to basolateral delivery. Moreover, this segment can be transplanted to a heterologous reporter molecule, which is then retargeted from the apical to the basolateral surface (2). In at least one other case, the low density lipoprotein receptor, autonomous basolateral sorting signals have been identified (3).The pIgR basolateral targeting signal has been systematically analyzed by alanine scanning mutagenesis (4). Mutation of His-656, Arg-657, or Val-660 to Ala substantially diminishes, but does not eliminate, TGN to basolateral targeting. Mutation of other residues had little or no effect. The structure of a synthetic 17-residue peptide corresponding to this signal has been determined by two-dimensional nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (4). This peptide tends to adopt a putative type 1 -turn, encompassing residues 658 -661, followed by a nascent helical structure. In MDCK cells polarized sorting takes place in both the TGN and after endocytosis. Mutations that diminish TGN to basolateral sorting and increase TGN to apical sorting have a similar effect on sorting in the endocytotic pathway, decreasing recycling to the basolateral surface and...