Calmodulin (CaM) is a ubiquitous protein that plays a critical role in regulating cellular functions by altering the activity of a large number of proteins, including the d-myo-inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate (IP3) receptor (IP3R). CaM inhibits IP3 binding in both the presence and absence of Ca2+ and IP3-induced Ca2+ release in the presence of Ca2+. We have now mapped and characterized a Ca2+-independent CaM-binding site in the N-terminal part of the type 1 IP3R (IP3R1). This site could be responsible for the inhibitory effects of CaM on IP3 binding. We therefore expressed the N-terminal 581 amino acids of IP3R1 as a His-tagged recombinant protein, containing the functional IP3-binding pocket. We showed that CaM, both in the presence and absence of Ca2+, inhibited IP3 binding to this recombinant protein with an IC50 of approx. 2 microM. Deletion of the N-terminal 225 amino acids completely abolished the effects of both Ca2+ and CaM on IP3 binding. We mapped the Ca2+-independent CaM-binding site to a recombinant glutathione S-transferase fusion protein containing the first 159 amino acids of IP3R1 and then made different synthetic peptides overlapping this region. We demonstrated that two synthetic peptides matching amino acids 49-81 and 106-128 bound CaM independently of Ca2+ and could reverse the inhibition of IP3 binding caused by CaM. This suggests that these sequences are components of a discontinuous Ca2+-independent CaM-binding domain, which is probably involved in the inhibition of IP3 binding by CaM.