Cellular, inter‐organismal and cross kingdom communication via extracellular vesicles (EVs) is intensively studied in basic science with high expectation for a large variety of bio‐technological applications. EVs intrinsically possess many attributes of a drug delivery vehicle. Beyond the implications for basic cell biology, academic and industrial interests in EVs have increased in the last few years. Microalgae constitute sustainable and renewable sources of bioactive compounds with a range of sectoral applications, including the formulation of health supplements, cosmetic products and food ingredients. Here we describe a newly discovered subtype of EVs derived from microalgae, which we named nanoalgosomes. We isolated these extracellular nano‐objects from cultures of microalgal strains, including the marine photosynthetic chlorophyte Tetraselmis chuii, using differential ultracentrifugation or tangential flow fractionation and focusing on the nanosized small EVs (sEVs). We explore different biochemical and physical properties and we show that nanoalgosomes are efficiently taken up by mammalian cell lines, confirming the cross kingdom communication potential of EVs. This is the first detailed description of such membranous nanovesicles from microalgae. With respect to EVs isolated from other organisms, nanoalgosomes present several advantages in that microalgae are a renewable and sustainable natural source, which could easily be scalable in terms of nanoalgosome production.
Potential applications of extracellular vesicles (EVs) are attracting increasing interest in the fields of medicine, cosmetics, and nutrition. However, the manufacturing of EVs is currently characterized by low yields. This limitation severely hampers progress in research at the laboratory and clinical scales, as well as the realization of successful and cost-effective EV-based products. Moreover, the high level of heterogeneity of EVs further complicates reproducible manufacturing on a large scale. In this review, possible directions toward the scalable production of EVs are discussed. In particular, two strategies are considered: i) the optimization of upstream unit operations and ii) the exploitation of well-established and mature technologies already in use in other industrial bioprocesses.
Photoactivatable dyes enable single-molecule imaging and tracking in biology. Despite progress in the development of new fluorophores and labeling strategies, many intracellular compartments remain difficult to image beyond the limit of diffraction in living cells. For example, lipid domains, e.g., membranes and droplets, remain difficult to image with nanometric resolution. To visualize these challenging subcellular targets, it is necessary to develop new fluorescent molecular devices beyond simple on/off switches. Here, we report a fluorogenic molecular logic gate that can be used to image single molecules associated with lipid domains, most notably droplets, with excellent specificity. This probe requires the subsequent action of light, a lipophilic environment, and a competent nucleophile to produce a fluorescent product. The combination of these inputs results in a probe that can be used to image the boundary of lipid droplets in three dimensions with resolution beyond the limit of diffraction. Moreover, this probe enables single-molecule tracking of lipid trafficking between droplets and the endoplasmic reticulum.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.