Biogenesis of extracellular vesicles from the pathogen perspective: Transkingdom strategies for delivering messages.

EVs are nanoparticles enclosing proteins, nucleic acids and lipids released by cells and are essential for their metabolism and useful for intercellular communication. The importance of EVs has been highlighted by their use as biomarkers or as vaccine antigens. The release of vesicles is exploited by a wide range of organisms: from unicellular bacteria or protozoa to multicellular prokaryotes like fungi, helminths and arthropods. The mechanisms elucidated to date in each biological group are presented, as well as a discussion of interesting directions for future EV studies.