The extracellular RNA complement of Escherichia coli.

The secretion of biomolecules into the extracellular milieu is a common and well-conserved phenomenon in biology. In bacteria, secreted biomolecules are not only involved in intra-species communication but they also play roles in inter-kingdom exchanges and pathogenicity. To date, released products, such as small molecules, DNA, peptides, and proteins, have been well studied in bacteria.