ATP dependent calcium pumps are responsible, in part, for the maintenance of low cytoplasmic free calcium concentrations. The ATP pumps that reside in intracellular organelles are encoded by a family of structurally related enzymes, termed the sarcoplasmic or endoplasmic reticulum calcium (SERCA) ATPases. The SERCA1 gene is exclusively expressed in type II (fast) skeletal muscle. The SERCA2 gene is subject to tissue dependent processing which is responsible for the generation of SERCA2a muscle-