Rabphilin is a membrane trafficking protein on secretory vesicles that consists of an N-terminalRabphilin was originally identified as a specific GTP-Rab3A-binding protein on secretory granules (1, 2) that is involved in the control of regulated secretion, including neurotransmitter release and hormone secretion (3-6). Recent evidence, however, has indicated that rabphilin functions independently of Rab3A. First, rabphilin knock-out animals and Rab3 knock-out animals display distinct phenotypes in terms of neurotransmitter release (7,8). Second, rabphilin promotes dense core vesicle exocytosis by endocrine cells independently of Rab3A (9, 10). Third, we very recently found that an N-terminal Rab-binding domain (RBD) 3 of rabphilin also functions as an effector domain for Rab27A in PC12 cells (11)(12)(13)(14). Although the Rab binding properties of rabphilin have been well documented (1,(11)(12)(13)(14)(15)(16), the function of the C-terminal tandem C2 domains of rabphilin, upon ligand binding during regulated secretion remains largely unknown. Biochemical analysis has indicated that the C2 domains of rabphilin interact with phospholipids in a Ca 2ϩ -dependent manner (17-19), but how the Ca 2ϩ /phospholipid binding to the C2 domains of rabphilin triggers regulated secretion also remains unknown.The functional relationship between Rab27A⅐effector complex and SNARE (soluble N-ethylmaleimide-sensitive factor attachment protein receptor) proteins, fundamental fusion machinery of vesicle exocytosis (20), have recently been reported. Slp4-a/granuphilin-a, another Rab27A effector that functions in certain endocrine cells (21-23) and parotid acinar cells (24), was reported to directly interact with syntaxin IA and/or Munc18-1 (23, 25, 26). In addition, the results of a genetic analysis of Caenorhabditis elegans rabphilin and SNARE (syntaxin, SNAP-25, or VAMP/synaptobrevin) double mutants have suggested that rabphilin modulates SNARE function (8). Thus, it is highly possible that rabphilin physically associates with SNARE proteins itself and/or SNARE-associated proteins but that possibility has never been investigated. In this study we systematically investigated the interaction between rabphilin and SNAREs and SNARE-associated proteins by coimmunoprecipitation assays and found that the C2B domain of rabphilin directly interacts with isolated SNAP-25, a target SNARE localized on the plasma membrane. Because there has never been a detailed description of the function of the C2B domain of rabphilin in the recruitment, docking, priming, and fusion of secretory vesicles in live cells, we also investigated the function of the C2B domain of rabphilin on the motion of a single dense core vesicle during exocytosis in PC12 cells by total internal reflection fluorescence microscopy (TIRF, also called evanescent wave or evanescence microscopy) (27) using vesicletargeted fluorescent proteins (28 -31). Expression of the rabphilin-⌬C2B mutant lacking SNAP-25 binding activity inhibited vesicle docking and markedly decreased the number...