Highlights of the mini-symposium on extracellular vesicles in inter-organismal communication, held in Munich, Germany, August 2018

ABSTRACT

All living organisms secrete molecules for intercellular communication. Recent research has revealed that extracellular vesicles (EVs) play an important role in inter-organismal cell-to-cell communication by transporting diverse messenger molecules, including RNA, DNA, lipids and proteins. These discoveries have raised fundamental questions regarding EV biology. How are EVs biosynthesized and loaded with messenger/cargo molecules? How are EVs secreted into the extracellular matrix? What are the EV uptake mechanisms of recipient cells? As EVs are produced by all kind of organisms, from unicellular bacteria and protists, filamentous fungi and oomycetes, to complex multicellular life forms such as plants and animals, basic research in diverse model systems is urgently needed to shed light on the multifaceted biology of EVs and their role in inter-organismal communications. To help catalyse progress in this emerging field, a mini-symposium was held in Munich, Germany in August 2018. This report highlights recent progress and major questions being pursued across a very diverse group of model systems, all united by the question of how EVs contribute to inter-organismal communication.

KEYWORDS:

• Extracellular vesicles (EVs)
• inter-organismal interactions
• cell-to-cell communication
• small RNAs
• plants
• nematodes
• protists
• fungi
• oomycetes
• bacteria

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank the corroborative research consortium SFB924 funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) and the Ludwig-Maximilians University Munich. EV work in the Innes laboratory is funded by the USA National Science Foundation (grant numbers IOS- IOS-1645745 and IOS-1842685), Dr Bielska`s work on EVs is funded by BBSRC (grant BB/R008485/1), Dr Abreu-Goodger is supported by grant CB-284884 from CONACyT in Mexico, Dr Weiberg’s project is supported by the SFB924.

Disclosure statement

All authors contributed equally to this work. No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council [BB/R008485/1]; Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología [CB-284884]; SFB924/DFG; USA National Science Foundation [grant numbers IOS- IOS-1645745 and IOS-1842685]. Professor Birch's contribution has been supported by funding from a European Research Council (ERC) Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme grant (agreement No 787764). A.H.B and C.A-G. were funded HFSP RGY0069.