Adenylate cyclase (AC) toxin from Bordetella pertussis interacts with and enters eukaryotic cells to catalyze the production of supraphysiologic levels of cyclic AMP. Although the calmodulin-activated enzymatic activity (ability to convert ATP to cyclic AMP in a cell-free assay) of this molecule is calcium independent, its toxin activity (ability to increase cyclic AMP levels in intact target cells) requires extracellular calcium. Toxin activity as a function of calcium concentration is biphasic, with no intoxication occurring in the absence of calcium, low level intoxication (200-300 pmol of cyclic AMP/mg of Jurkat cell protein) occurring with free calcium concentrations between 100 nM and 100 microM and a 10-fold increase in AC toxin activity at free calcium concentrations above 300 microM. The molecule exhibits a conformational change when free calcium concentrations exceed 100 microM as demonstrated by shift in intrinsic tryptophan fluorescence, an alteration in binding of one anti-AC monoclonal antibody, protection of a fragment from trypsin-mediated proteolysis, and a structural modification as illustrated by electron microscopy. Thus, it appears that an increase in the ambient calcium concentration to a critical point and the ensuing interaction of the toxin with calcium induces a conformational change which is necessary for its insertion into the target cell and for delivery of its catalytic domain to the cell interior.