Bacterial Extracellular Vesicles in the Marine Ecosystem

Bacterial extracellular vesicles (BEVs) are spherical, membrane-bound nano-scale structures released by bacterial cells that are involved in a variety of biological processes. Since their discovery in the 1960s, most BEV research has focused on bacteria associated with animals or plants, and our knowledge of their role in natural bacterial environments is limited. This project aims to address this knowledge gap by extending BEV research efforts to the marine environment, the largest ecosystem on Earth. The project will advance the frontier on marine BEVs by combining experimental microbiology with environmental observations in a unique, holistic approach, elucidating new capabilities of BEVs in marine bacteria and their importance for the marine microbial ecology.