The role of bacterial membrane vesicles in antibiotic resistance

Abstract

Bacterial survival during antibiotic exposure is a complex and multifaceted phenomenon. On top of antibiotic resistance genes, biofilm formation, and persister tolerance, bacterial membrane vesicles (MVs) provide a layer of protection that has been largely overlooked. MVs are spherical nanoparticles composed of lipid membranes and are common to Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. Although the importance of MVs in bacterial pathogenesis and virulence factor transport has been firmly established, a growing body of work now identifies MVs as key contributors to bacterial survival during antibiotic exposure. Herein, we highlight the ability of MVs to reduce antibiotic efficacy and transmit resistance elements. We also discuss the potential of targeting MV production as an unconventional therapeutic approach.

Capturing and Detecting of Extracellular Vesicles Derived from SingleEscherichia coliMother Cells

“…This tendency was seconded by measurements in bulk culture (Figure S10C and D), raising the question how the cells, stressed by antibiotic compounds, increase the vesiculogenesis without growth defect in a population and whether this is involved in the emergence of resistance as a collective behavior. [33] Future work will include improving throughput by optimizing the conditions for bacterial cell capture and preventing cell escape to implement accurate statistics and reveal more details of EV heterogeneity at the single-bacterial-cell level.…”

Sentient cells as basic units of tissues, organs and organismal physiology

“…Particularly intriguing are immune synapses between T cells and antigen-presenting cells in which micro-villi-like protrusions mediate communication and recognition through the release of specific extracellular vesicles termed T-cell microvilli particles . Finally, vesicles released by bacteria serve not only for bacterial communication but also in mediating the transfer of their antibiotic resistance (Chattopadhyay & Jagannadham, 2015;Uddin et al, 2020;MacNair & Tan, 2023). As vesicles represent the prototype of the most ancient cells (Reber et al, 2023), it is perhaps not surprising that they are also used as a kind of universal messenger (Deatherage & Cookson, 2012;Lynch & Alegado, 2017;Woith et al, 2019) for inter-organismic communication.…”

“…2023). Finally, vesicles released by bacteria serve not only for bacterial communication but also in mediating the transfer of their antibiotic resistance (Chattopadhyay & Jagannadham, 2015; Uddin et al., 2020; MacNair & Tan, 2023). As vesicles represent the prototype of the most ancient cells (Reber et al., 2023), it is perhaps not surprising that they are also used as a kind of universal messenger (Deatherage & Cookson, 2012; Lynch & Alegado, 2017; Woith et al., 2019) for inter‐organismic communication.…”

Capturing of extracellular vesicles derived from single cells of Escherichia coli

“…3,24 Despite these challenges, EVs have gained considerable attention in recent years because of their roles in antibiotic tolerance, transmission of antibiotic resistance genes and potential use of vesicle pathways as a drug target. [27][28][29] In particular, OMVs contribute to cell fitness by removing the unwanted cargo, i.e. EV formation could serve as a "garbage disposal" mechanism.…”

“…EV formation could serve as a "garbage disposal" mechanism. 27,30,31 In addition, the aspect of single-cell analysis for microbes should be highlighted. In microbiology, single-cell analysis by time-lapse microscopy typically means observing and tracking single cells within a growing population, 32,33 while only few studies report true single-bacterial cell studies, [34][35][36] and these do not provide long-term cell culture methods without neighboring cells like the ones done for yeast cells using microfluidic hydrodynamic traps.…”