In the past decade, extracellular vesicles (EVs) have been recognized as potent vehicles of intercellular communication, both in prokaryotes and eukaryotes. This is due to their capacity to transfer proteins, lipids and nucleic acids, thereby influencing various physiological and pathological functions of both recipient and parent cells. While intensive investigation has targeted the role of EVs in different pathological processes, for example, in cancer and autoimmune diseases, the EV‐mediated maintenance of homeostasis and the regulation of physiological functions have remained less explored. Here, we provide a comprehensive overview of the current understanding of the physiological roles of EVs, which has been written by crowd‐sourcing, drawing on the unique EV expertise of academia‐based scientists, clinicians and industry based in 27 European countries, the United States and Australia. This review is intended to be of relevance to both researchers already working on EV biology and to newcomers who will encounter this universal cell biological system. Therefore, here we address the molecular contents and functions of EVs in various tissues and body fluids from cell systems to organs. We also review the physiological mechanisms of EVs in bacteria, lower eukaryotes and plants to highlight the functional uniformity of this emerging communication system.

Background: Platelet‐derived extracellular vesicles (EVs) participate, for example, in haemostasis, immunity and development. Most studies of platelet EVs have targeted microparticles, whereas exosomes and EV characterization under various conditions have been less analyzed. Studies have been hampered by the difficulty in obtaining EVs free from contaminating cells and platelet remnants. Therefore, we optimized an EV isolation protocol and compared the quantity and protein content of EVs induced by different agonists.Methods: Platelets isolated with iodixanol gradient were activated by thrombin and collagen, lipopolysaccharide (LPS) or Ca²⁺ ionophore. Microparticles and exosomes were isolated by differential centrifugations. EVs were quantitated by nanoparticle tracking analysis (NTA) and total protein. Size distributions were determined by NTA and electron microscopy. Proteomics was used to characterize the differentially induced EVs.Results: The main EV populations were 100–250 nm and over 90% were <500 nm irrespective of the activation. However, activation pathways differentially regulated the quantity and the quality of EVs, which also formed constitutively. Thrombogenic activation was the most potent physiological EV‐generator. LPS was a weak inducer of EVs, which had a selective protein content from the thrombogenic EVs. Ca²⁺ ionophore generated a large population of protein‐poor and unselectively packed EVs. By proteomic analysis, EVs were highly heterogeneous after the different activations and between the vesicle subpopulations.Conclusions: Although platelets constitutively release EVs, vesiculation can be increased, and the activation pathway determines the number and the cargo of the formed EVs. These activation‐dependent variations render the use of protein content in sample normalization invalid. Since most platelet EVs are 100–250 nm, only a fraction has been analyzed by previously used methods, for example, flow cytometry. As the EV subpopulations could not be distinguished and large vesicle populations may be lost by differential centrifugation, novel methods are required for the isolation and the differentiation of all EVs.

Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG (GG) is a widely used and intensively studied probiotic bacterium. Although the health benefits of strain GG are well documented, the systematic exploration of mechanisms by which this strain exerts probiotic effects in the host has only recently been initiated. The ability to survive the harsh conditions of the gastrointestinal tract, including gastric juice containing bile salts, is one of the vital characteristics that enables a probiotic bacterium to transiently colonize the host. Here we used gene expression profiling at the transcriptome and proteome levels to investigate the cellular response of strain GG toward bile under defined bioreactor conditions. The analyses revealed that in response to growth of strain GG in the presence of 0.2% ox gall the transcript levels of 316 genes changed significantly (p < 0.01, t test), and 42 proteins, including both intracellular and surface-exposed proteins (i.e. surfome), were differentially abundant (p < 0.01, t test in total proteome analysis; p < 0.05, t test in surfome analysis). Protein abundance changes correlated with transcriptome level changes for 14 of these proteins. The identified proteins suggest diverse and specific changes in general stress responses as well as in cell envelope-related functions, including in pathways affecting fatty acid composition, cell surface charge, and thickness of the exopolysaccharide layer. These changes are likely to strengthen the cell envelope against bile-induced stress and signal the GG cells of gut entrance. Notably, the surfome analyses demonstrated significant reduction in the abundance of a protein catalyzing the synthesis of exopolysaccharides, whereas a protein dedicated for active removal of bile compounds from the cells was up-regulated. These findings suggest a role for these proteins in facilitating the well founded interaction of strain GG with the host mucus in the presence of sublethal doses of bile. The significance of these findings in terms of the functionality of a probiotic bacterium is discussed.

Inflammasomes are multiprotein complexes of the innate immune system that orchestrate development of inflammation by activating the secretion of proinflammatory cytokines, IL-1β and IL-18. The LPS of Gram-negative bacteria have been shown to activate a novel, noncanonical inflammasome by directly binding in the cytosol to human caspase-4 and mouse caspase-11. Activation of noncanonical inflammasome exerts two major effects: it activates the NLRP3–caspase-1–mediated processing and secretion of IL-1β and IL-18 and induces the inflammatory cell death, pyroptosis, via gasdermin D. This previously unexpected cytosolic LPS sensing of the innate immune system provides critical hints for host response to Gram-negative bacterial infections and development of different inflammatory diseases. However, many of its molecular regulatory mechanisms are yet to be discovered. In this review, we provide comprehensive analysis of current understanding of intracellular LPS detection and pyroptosis via noncanonical inflammasome and discuss the recently proposed mechanisms of its function and regulation.

Normal functioning of the nervous system requires precise regulation of dendritic shape and synaptic connectivity. Here, we report a severe impairment of dendritic structures in the cerebellum and motor cortex of c-Jun N-terminal kinase 1 (JNK1)-deficient mice. Using an unbiased screen for candidate mediators, we identify the dendrite-specific high-molecular-weight microtubule-associated protein 2 (MAP2) as a JNK substrate in the brain. We subsequently show that MAP2 is phosphorylated by JNK in intact cells and that MAP2 proline-rich domain phosphorylation is decreased in JNK1-/- brain. We developed compartment-targeted JNK inhibitors to define whether a functional relationship exists between the physiologically active, cytosolic pool of JNK and dendritic architecture. Using these, we demonstrate that cytosolic, but not nuclear, JNK determines dendritic length and arbor complexity in cultured neurons. Moreover, we confirm that MAP2-dependent process elongation is enhanced after activation of JNK. Using JNK1-/- neurons, we reveal a dominant role for JNK1 over ERK in regulating dendritic arborization, whereas ERK only regulates dendrite shape under conditions in which JNK activity is low (JNK1-/- neurons). These results reveal a novel antagonism between JNK and ERK, potentially providing a mechanism for fine-tuning the dendritic arbor. Together, these data suggest that JNK phosphorylation of MAP2 plays an important role in defining dendritic architecture in the brain.