Environmental and Taxonomic Drivers of Bacterial Extracellular Vesicle Production in Marine Ecosystems
Steven J. Biller, Allison Coe, Aldo A. Arellano, Keven Dooley, Samantha M. Silvestri, Jacqueline S. Gong, Emily A. Yeager, Jamie W. Becker, Sallie W. Chisholm
Abstract
Bacteria release extracellular vesicles that contain a wide variety of cellular compounds, including lipids, proteins, nucleic acids, and small molecules, into their surrounding environment. These structures are found in diverse microbial habitats, including the oceans, where their distributions vary throughout the water column and likely affect their functional impacts within microbial ecosystems. Using a quantitative analysis of marine microbial cultures, we show that bacterial vesicle production in the oceans is shaped by a combination of biotic and abiotic factors. Different marine taxa release vesicles at rates that vary across an order of magnitude, and vesicle production changes dynamically as a function of environmental conditions. These findings represent a step forward in our understanding of bacterial extracellular vesicle production dynamics and provide a basis for the quantitative exploration of the factors that shape vesicle dynamics in natural ecosystems.