One aspect of bacterial activity is the production of
so-called extracellular membrane vesicles (MVs): biological
‘packages’ wrapped in a lipid-bilayer membrane, carrying for
example genetic material. Apart from having specific biological
functions, MVs are increasingly used in nanobiotechnological
applications, including drug delivery and enzyme transport. In
order to better understand the processes involving MVs, a full
apprehension of their physical properties is essential. In
particular, the degree of heterogeneity of vesicles released by one
single type of bacterium is an important point. Now, Azuma Taoka
from Kanazawa University, Nobuhiko Nomura from Tsukuba University
and colleagues have addressed this question, and demonstrate a
previously unrecognized physical heterogeneity in the membrane
vesicles of four types of bacterium.