We investigated the role of the eight acidic residues in the extracellular loops (exo-loops) of the seven-transmembrane domain of the human Ca 2؉ receptor (hCaR) in receptor activation by Ca 2؉ and in response to a positive allosteric modulator, NPS R-568. Both in the context of the full-length receptor and of a truncated receptor lacking the extracellular domain (Rho-C-hCaR), we mutated each acidic residue to alanine, singly and in combination, and tested the effect on expression of the receptor, on activation by Ca 2؉ , and on NPS R-568 augmentation of sensitivity to Ca 2؉ . Of the eight acidic residues, mutation of any of three in exo-loop 2, Asp 758 , Glu 759 , and Glu 767 , increased the sensitivity of both the full-length hCaR and of Rho-C-hCaR to activation by Ca 2؉ . Mutation of all five acidic residues in exo-loop 2, whether in the full-length receptor or in Rho-C-hCaR, impaired cell surface expression of the mutant receptor and thereby largely abolished response to Ca 2؉ . Mutation of Glu 837 in exo-loop 3 to alanine did not alter Ca 2؉ sensitivity of the full-length receptor, but in both the latter context and in Rho-C-hCaR, alanine substitution of Glu 837 drastically reduced sensitivity to NPS R-568. Our data point to a key role of three specific acidic residues in exo-loop 2 in hCaR activation and to Glu 837 at the junction between exo-loop 3 and transmembrane helix seven in response to NPS R-568. We speculate on the basis of these results that the three acidic residues we identified in exo-loop 2 help maintain an inactive conformation of the seven-transmembrane domain of the hCaR.The G protein-coupled [Ca 2ϩ ] o receptor (CaR) 1 plays a central role in the regulation of [Ca 2ϩ ] o homeostasis (1, 2). [Ca 2ϩ ] o activates the CaR in the parathyroid, thereby inhibiting parathyroid hormone secretion, and in the kidney, causing increased urinary calcium excretion. The physiological importance of the CaR in determining the level at which [Ca 2ϩ ] o is set in vivo has been documented by the identification of inactivating mutations in the CaR gene as the cause of familial hypocalciuric hypercalcemia and activating mutations as the cause of autosomal dominant hypocalcemia (3, 4). Naturally occurring CaR mutations identified in subjects with autosomal dominant hypocalcemia generally cause increased CaR sensitivity to [Ca 2ϩ ] o rather than causing constitutive activation (5).The CaR belongs to a unique subfamily, family 3, of G protein-coupled receptors (GPCR) with an unusually large N-terminal, extracellular domain (ECD) comprised of Venus's-flytrap (VFT) and cysteine-rich domains, in addition to the seventransmembrane domain (7TM) characteristic of all GPCR (6). Studies with chimeric family 3 GPCR (7-10) and the threedimensional structure of the metabotropic glutamate type 1 receptor (mGluR1) determined by x-ray crystallography (11) show that the VFT is the site of agonist binding in family 3 GPCR. The precise site(s) for binding to the CaR, however, have not been identified.The activation of family ...