Phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase products play a central role in the regulation of several intracellular pathways via adaptor proteins that share the ability to bind to 3 -phosphoinositides with high affinity and specificity. JFC1 is a C2 domain-containing protein involved in cellular trafficking that has been shown to bind 3 -phosphoinositides in vitro. In this work, we demonstrate that the C2A domain of JFC1 is the module responsible for its binding to the plasma membrane via 3 -phosphoinositides in vivo. We show that the C2A domain of JFC1 is the only domain present in this protein that localizes to the plasma membrane in living cells. Moreover, the C2A domain of JFC1 binds 3 -phosphoinositides in vitro with similar specificity as that described for full-length JFC1, suggesting that the domain mediates the specific membrane localization of the full-length protein. Furthermore, the C2A domain of JFC1 colocalized with the pleckstrin homology domain of Akt in vivo, and both the JFC1 C2A domain and the full-length JFC1 dissociated from the membrane in the presence of PI 3-kinase specific inhibitors. We also show that the association of the C2A domain to the membrane is modulated by calcium. From these results we analyze possible mechanisms for the role of JFC1 in cellular trafficking. P hosphoinositides are specialized phospholipids known to localize to the inner leaflet of the plasma membrane, vesicles, and the nuclear envelope and participate in several signaling pathways (1). One of these phosphoinositides, phosphatidylinositol (4,5)-bisphosphate [PtdIns(4,5)P 2 ], plays a central role in the regulation of several intracellular pathways, from actin cytoskeleton modulation and vesicle trafficking (2) to modulation of the transcription factor Tubby protein (3). Furthermore, PtdIns(4,5)P 2 is a precursor for the second messenger phosphatidylinositol (3,4,5) trisphosphate [PtdIns(3,4,5)P 3 ] via the phosphoinositide 3-kinases ref. 4). PI 3-kinases and their products 3Ј-phosphorylated phosphoinositides (3Ј-phosphoinositides) are also involved in many crucial cell functions including vesicle trafficking (1, 2), cytoskeleton modulation, and cell survival (5). It is now clear that most of the functions regulated by phosphoinositides are mediated by adaptor proteins that share the ability to bind to PtdIns(4,5)P 2 and PI 3-kinase products with high affinity and specificity. These effectors are characterized by the presence of specialized phosphoinositide-binding domains. These domains include the pleckstrin homology (PH) domain (6), the FYVE finger (7), and the recently discovered PHOX homology (PX) domain (8). Furthermore, C2 domains have been shown to bind to phospholipids or phosphoinositides in the presence or absence of calcium (9). Proteins that contain C2 domains could generally be categorized as signal transduction mediators or membrane traffic effectors (10). The most extensively studied proteins included in the last group are the synaptotagmins (Syts). Syts are a group of transmembrane proteins that contain tan...