The A 2A adenosine receptor is a prototypical G s -coupled receptor, but it also signals, e.g. to mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinase, via a pathway that is independent of heterotrimeric G proteins. Truncation of the carboxyl terminus affects the strength of the signal through these alternative pathways. In a yeast two-hybrid interaction hunt, we screened a human brain library for proteins that bound to the juxtamembrane portion of the carboxyl terminus of the A 2A receptor. This approach identified ARNO/cytohesin-2, a nucleotide exchange factor for the small (monomeric) G proteins of the Arf (ADP-ribosylation factor) family, as a potential interaction partner. We confirmed a direct interaction by mutual pull down (of fusion proteins expressed in bacteria) and by immunoprecipitation of the proteins expressed in mammalian cells. To circumvent the long term toxicity associated with overexpression of ARNO/cytohesin-2, we created stable cell lines that stably expressed the A 2A receptor and where ARNO/cytohesin-2 or the dominant negative version E156K-ARNO/ cytohesin-2 was inducible by mifepristone. Cyclic AMP accumulation induced by an A 2A -specific agonist was neither altered by ARNO/cytohesin-2 nor by the dominant negative version. This was also true for agonistinduced desensitization. In contrast, expression of dominant negative E156K-ARNO/cytohesin-2 and of dominant negative T27N-Arf6 abrogated the sustained phase of MAP kinase stimulation induced by the A 2A receptor. We therefore conclude that ARNO/cytohesin-2 is required to support the alternative, heterotrimeric G protein-independent, signaling pathway of A 2A receptor, which is stimulation of MAP kinase.Over the last decade, it has been increasingly accepted that G protein-coupled receptors also bind regulatory proteins other than G proteins, arrestins, and G protein-coupled kinases, which are involved in effector regulation and desensitization, respectively (1). These accessory proteins include components of signaling cascades and bind to the carboxyl termini of various G protein-coupled receptors (2). The A 2A adenosine receptor has an unusually long intracellular carboxyl-terminal tail, 122 amino acids in man, when compared, for instance, to 34 residues in the carboxyl terminus of the A 1 adenosine receptor. Circumstantial evidence suggests that accessory proteins bind to the carboxyl terminus of the A 2A receptor (3). A 2A receptors can activate mitogen-activated protein (MAP) 1 kinase by a G␣ s -independent signaling pathway; this can be seen both in endothelial cells where the receptor is endogenously expressed (4) and upon heterologous expression in HEK293 cells (5). Truncation of the carboxyl terminus does not impair the ability of the A 2A adenosine receptor to stimulate MAP kinase but blunts stimulation of cAMP accumulation. In addition, fulllength and truncated receptors differ in their constitutive (agonist-independent) activity; this difference is only seen in intact cells and is lost upon membrane preparation, suggesting the loss of one o...