Membrane repair is essential for cell and organism survival. Exocytosis and endocytosis facilitate membrane repair in small wounds within a single cell; however, it remains unclear how large wounds in the plasma membrane are repaired in metazoans. Here, we show that wounding triggers rapid transcriptional upregulation and dynamic recruitment of the fusogen EFF-1 to the wound site in C. elegans epidermal cells. EFF-1 recruitment at the wounded membrane depends on the actin cytoskeleton and is important for membrane repair. We identified syntaxin-2 (SYX-2) as an essential regulator of EFF-1 recruitment. SYX-2 interacts with the C terminus of EFF-1 to promote its recruitment, facilitating both endoplasmic and exoplasmic membrane repair. Furthermore, we show that SYX-2-EFF-1 repair machinery acts downstream of the ESCRT III signal. Together, our findings identify a key pathway underlying membrane repair and provide insights into tissue repair and regenerative medicine after injury.

膜修复对于细胞和生物的生存至关重要。胞吐作用和内吞作用促进单个细胞内小伤口的膜修复。但是，尚不清楚后生动物中质膜的大伤口是否得到修复。在这里，我们显示伤口触发快速转录上调和融合蛋白EFF-1到秀丽隐杆线虫伤口部位的动态募集表皮细胞。EFF-1在受伤的膜上募集取决于肌动蛋白的细胞骨架，对于膜修复很重要。我们确定了syntaxin-2（SYX-2）是EFF-1募集的重要调节剂。SYX-2与EFF-1的C末端相互作用，以促进其募集，从而促进内质和外质膜修复。此外，我们表明SYX-2-EFF-1维修机械在ESCRT III信号的下游起作用。总之，我们的发现确定了膜修复的关键途径，并为损伤后的组织修复和再生医学提供了见识。