The product of this gene belongs to the serine/threonine protein kinase family and to the Ca(2+)/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase subfamily. Calcium signaling is crucial for several aspects of plasticity at glutamatergic synapses. In mammalian cells, the enzyme is composed of four different chains alpha, beta, gamma, and delta. The product of this gene is a delta chain. Alternative splicing results in multiple transcript variants encoding distinct isoforms. Distinct isoforms of this chain have different expression patterns.