Calcium plays an essential role in many biological processes. The calcium binding protein (CaBP) family shares much similarity to calmodulin. It has been shown that CaBP proteins can substitute functionally for, and probably augment the function of, calmodulin. Calcium binding proteins are a crucial part of calcium mediated cellular signal transduction in the central nervous system. There are several members of the family with varying expression patterns. CaBP1 and CaBP2 can be expressed as multiple, alternatively spliced variants in brain and retina. CaBP3, CaBP4 and CaBP 5 are restricted to retinal rod and cone cells. CaBP7 shares 70% homology with CaBP8 and 50% homology with CaM I.