Bacterial extracellular vesicles as players in biofilm dynamics and community interactions

The ability to use vesicles to deliver cargo safely across distance is a valuable strategy that appears to be universal across all life. The ability of prokaryotes to accomplish this is a relatively new idea, but one that is expanding rapidly. In this review, we will describe what bacterial extracellular vesicles (bEVs) are and where they come from. We will also summarize what has been learned about their biogenesis and function through foundational planktonic studies. Using this as a backdrop, we will then contextualize new and exciting discoveries made as the focus of the field has shifted to studying bEVs in more complex multi-species and biofilm communities. We will explore how, when and where bEVs are produced in biofilms and how the circumstances of their formation can affect communication, matrix remodeling, community metabolism, organization, and defense. The boundless versatility of bEVs makes them essential contributors to bacterial community life and also offers great potential for exploitation as applied biologics.