Eco-evolutionary feedbacks mediated by bacterial membrane vesicles

Abstract

Bacterial membrane vesicles (BMVs) are spherical extracellular organelles whose cargo is enclosed by a biological membrane. The cargo can be delivered to distant parts of a given habitat in a protected and concentrated manner. This review presents current knowledge about BMVs in the context of bacterial eco-evolutionary dynamics among different environments and hosts. BMVs may play an important role in establishing and stabilizing bacterial communities in such environments; for example, bacterial populations may benefit from BMVs to delay the negative effect of certain evolutionary trade-offs that can result in deleterious phenotypes. BMVs can also perform ecosystem engineering by serving as detergents, mediators in biochemical cycles, components of different biofilms, substrates for cross-feeding, defence systems against different dangers and enzyme-delivery mechanisms that can change substrate availability. BMVs further contribute to bacteria as mediators in different interactions, either with other bacterial species or with their hosts. In short, BMVs extend and deliver phenotypic traits that can have ecological and evolutionary value both to their producers and to the ecosystem as a whole.

Deciphering the evolution of metallo-β-lactamases: A journey from the test tube to the bacterial periplasm

“…Interestingly, the periplasm is not necessarily the final localization of MBLs, since some of them can be packed into outer membrane vesicles (OMVs). All Gram-negative bacteria produce OMVs in response to a wide variety of environments (92)(93)(94)(95)(96). Bacterial OMVs, possessing a diameter of 20 to 250 nm, are spherical portions of the outer membrane that protrude and detach from growing cells.…”

A rapid method for isolation of bacterial extracellular vesicles from culture media using epsilon-poly-L–lysine that enables immunological function research

“…Innate immune cells can recognize conserved bacterial molecular structures known as pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs) through pattern-recognition receptors (PRRs), which are crucial for the development of appropriate immune responses (1,2). Even though the access of microbes to the immune cells is restricted physically in most situations, recent evidence have shown that the microbiota can communicate with the host through various effector molecules (3), such as short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs), lipopolysaccharide (LPS), proteins, and bacterial extracellular vesicles (BEVs) (4). Among these microbiota-secreted factors, BEV is likely to have a more important role in interkingdom interactions (5)(6)(7) for the release of vesicle-like structures is a universally conserved cellular process that occurs in all domains of life (8).…”

Membrane Vesicles of Pectobacterium as an Effective Protein Secretion System

“…Membrane vesicles (MVs) are spherical particles of 20-250 nm diameter on average and consist of a hydrosol enclosed by one or two biological membranes [13]. They can be divided into outer membrane vesicles (OMVs) and outer-inner membrane vesicles (O-IMVs), depending on their formation mechanism.…”

“…The mechanism of OMVs and O-IMVs formation has yet not been fully understood. It is suggested that MVs form as a consequence of an imbalance between membrane tension and osmotic pressure that leads to an extracellular protrusion of the membrane areas where peptidoglycan is detached [13]. The imbalance may be due to a disrupted lipid asymmetry [21].…”