Large-scale identification of plasma membrane repair proteins revealed spatiotemporal cellular responses to plasma membrane damage

Damage to the plasma membrane (PM) is common in all types of cells. PM repair processes, including exocytosis and endocytosis, are not mutually exclusive; rather, they collaborate to repair the wound. However, the temporal coordination between the repair processes remains poorly understood. Here, by large-scale identification and live-cell imaging of PM repair proteins, we analyzed the spatiotemporal PM damage responses in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Of the 80 repair proteins identified, 72 proteins were previously unreported repair protein candidates. Among the observed repair processes, the polarized exocytosis and clathrin-mediated endocytosis (CME) are coupled at the damage site, with exocytosis predominating in the early stage of PM repair and CME predominating in the late stage of PM repair. Furthermore, we showed that CME at the growing bud site directs PM repair proteins with transmembrane domains to the damage site. We propose a model in which CME delivers repair proteins with transmembrane domains between the growing bud site and the damage site. This study provides a functional catalog of PM repair proteins and insights into spatiotemporal cellular responses to PM damage.