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Coping with the inevitable: how cells repair a torn surface membrane

Nature Cell Biology volume 3, pages E124–E129 (2001)Cite this article

Abstract

Disruption of the cell plasma membrane is a commonplace occurrence in many mechanically challenging, biological environments. 'Resealing' is the emergency response required for cell survival. Resealing is triggered by Ca2+ entering through the disruption; this causes vesicles present in cytoplasm underlying the disruption site to fuse rapidly with one another (homotypically) and also with the adjacent plasma membrane (heterotypically/exocytotically). The large vesicular products of homotypic fusion are added as a reparative 'patch' across the disruption, when its resealing requires membrane replacement. The simultaneous activation of the local cytoskeleton supports these membrane fusion events. Resealing is clearly a complex and dynamic cell adaptation, and, as we emphasize here, may be an evolutionarily primitive one that arose shortly after the ancestral eukaryote lost its protective cell wall.

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Figure 1: Three resealing mechanisms.
Figure 2: The key experiment showing that cytoplasm can rapidly erect an extensive membrane barrier when exposed to its natural external environment.
Figure 3: Scanning electron microcrographs of eggs sheared to produce plasma-membrane disruptions directly from a syringe needle into fixative.
Figure 4: The evolution of fusion-based resealing may have occurred soon after the acquisition of endocytotic apparatus.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Cellular Biology and Institute of Molecular Medicine and Genetics, Medical College of Georgia, Augusta, 30912, Georgia, USA

    Paul L. McNeil

  2. Department of Physiology, University of Connecticut Health Center, Farmington, 06032, Connecticut, USA

    Mark Terasaki

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  1. Paul L. McNeil
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Correspondence to Paul L. McNeil or Mark Terasaki.

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McNeil, P., Terasaki, M. Coping with the inevitable: how cells repair a torn surface membrane. Nat Cell Biol 3, E124–E129 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1038/35074652

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