The catalytic domain of Bordetella pertussis adenylate cyclase located within the first 400 amino acids of the protein can be cleaved by trypsin in two subdomains (T25 and T18) corresponding to ATP-(T25) and calmodulin (CaM)-(T18) binding sites. Reassociation of subdomains by CaM is a cooperative process, which is a unique case among CaM-activated enzymes. To understand better the molecular basis of this phenomenon, we used several approaches such as partial deletions of the adenylate cyclase gene, isolation of peptides of various size, and site-directed mutagenesis experiments. We found that a stretch of 72 amino acid residues overlapping the carboxyl terminus of T25 and the amino terminus of T18 accounts for 90% of the binding energy of adenylate cyclase-CaM complex. The hydrophobic "side" of the helical region situated around Trp242 plays a major role in the interaction of adenylate cyclase with CaM, whereas basic residues that alternate with acidic residues in bacterial enzyme play a much less important role. The amino-terminal half of the catalytic domain of adenylate cyclase contributes only 10% to the binding energy of CaM, whereas the last 130 amino acid residues are not at all involved in binding. However, these segments of adenylate cyclase might affect protein/protein interaction and catalysis by propagating conformational changes to the CaM-binding sequence which is located in the middle of the catalytic domain of bacterial enzyme.