Synaptotagmins are calcium sensors that regulate synaptic vesicle exo/endocytosis. Thought to be exclusive to animals, they have recently been characterized in plants. We show that Arabidopsis synaptotagmin SYTA regulates endosome recycling and movement protein (MP)-mediated trafficking of plant virus genomes through plasmodesmata. SYTA localizes to endosomes in plant cells and directly binds the distinct Cabbage leaf curl virus (CaLCuV) and Tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) cell-to-cell movement proteins. In a SYTA knockdown line, CaLCuV systemic infection is delayed, and cell-to-cell spread of TMV and CaLCuV movement proteins is inhibited. A dominant-negative SYTA mutant causes depletion of plasma membrane-derived endosomes, produces large intracellular vesicles attached to plasma membrane, and inhibits cell-to-cell trafficking of TMV and CaLCuV movement proteins, when tested in an Agrobacterium-based leaf expression assay. Our studies show that SYTA regulates endocytosis, and suggest that distinct virus movement proteins transport their cargos to plasmodesmata for cell-tocell spread via an endocytic recycling pathway. S ynaptotagmins (Syts) are a large family of Ca 2+ /lipid binding proteins widely studied in animals due to their role in neurotransmitter release. They are also found in Drosophila and Caenorhabditis elegans and were recently described in plants (1, 2). Syts have a conserved domain structure: a short uncleaved N-terminal signal peptide that overlaps a transmembrane (TM) domain, followed by a cytosolic variable region and two C-terminal C 2 domains, C 2 A and C 2 B. Whereas C 2 A and C 2 B each bind phospholipids in a Ca 2+ -dependent manner, fold independently and act synergistically, C 2 B is essential for activity (1). SytI, the best studied Syt, is proposed to act as a Ca 2+ sensor to regulate rapid and synchronous synaptic vesicle exocytosis (1). Whether it regulates SNARE complex formation in a temporal and spatial manner, or is itself fusogenic, is unclear. Studies in PC12 cells, and of mouse and Drosophila sytI mutants, suggest that the SNARE complex VAMP1/SNAP25/syntaxin-1 targets the synaptic vesicle to the plasma membrane to create a metastable fusion intermediate. SytI on the vesicle membrane, and perhaps a distinct partner Syt on the plasma membrane, would then interact with phospholipids and the SNARE complex to accelerate SNARE-mediated fusion pore dilation. Liposome studies suggest a direct fusogenic role for SytI, in which shallow insertion of the C 2 region into target membranes induces curvature to destabilize the lipid bilayer and form the fusion pore opening (1, 3). Studies in mice, Drosophila, and C. elegans show that SytI also regulates the kinetics of endocytosis at nerve terminals, apparently in a clathrin-mediated manner (1, 4).Plant virus movement proteins (MPs) mediate the transport of progeny genomes across the cell wall for local and systemic infection. Despite diverse strategies for cell-to-cell movement, two common features have emerged: movement proteins alter plasmodes...