Bacterial extracellular vesicles as carriers of genetic and regulatory messages.

Bacterial extracellular vesicles carry DNA and RNA with distinct sub-vesicular localizations, supporting the view of BEVs as heterogeneous subpopulations rather than bulk nucleic-acid carriers.

• Why it matters: The nucleic-acid contribution of BEVs to bacterial communication is still unclear, and treating their cargo as uniform bulk may obscure how different vesicle subsets function ecologically.
• What they did: This review synthesizes evidence on BEV nucleic-acid content and localization, emphasizing sub-vesicular DNA/RNA patterns and summarizing studies linking BEV-associated DNA to horizontal gene transfer and vesicular sRNA to host–bacteria interactions.
• The result: The compiled findings suggest BEVs can be considered in an ecological context, where nucleic-acid heterogeneity may correspond to different roles in gene exchange and host-associated regulation.

AI summary of the abstract · may contain errors · not medical advice · read the paper.