The paradoxical and still obscure properties of fungal extracellular vesicles

•Fungal extracellular vesicles (EVs) carry a number of virulence factors, virulence regulators and immunogens.•Innate immune response is activated by fungal EVs.•Fungal EVs can impact disease development in insect, plants and mammals.•Fungal organisms can use EVs to communicate to each other. Early...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Molecular immunology 2021-07, Vol.135, p.137-146
Main Authors: Piffer, Alicia C., Kuczera, Diogo, Rodrigues, Marcio L., Nimrichter, Leonardo
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
EVs stability
Fungal extracellular vesicles
Innate immune response
Vaccine
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Summary:•Fungal extracellular vesicles (EVs) carry a number of virulence factors, virulence regulators and immunogens.•Innate immune response is activated by fungal EVs.•Fungal EVs can impact disease development in insect, plants and mammals.•Fungal organisms can use EVs to communicate to each other. Early compositional studies of fungal EVs revealed a complex combination of biomolecules, including proteins, lipids, glycans, polysaccharides, nucleic acid and pigments, indicating that these compartments could be involved with multiple functions. Curiously, some of the activities attributed to fungal EVs were already attested experimentally and are implicated with contrasting effects in vitro and in vivo. For instance, the presence of virulence factors is correlated with increased pathogenic potential. Indeed, the administration to hosts of EVs along with some fungal pathogens seems to help the disease development. However, it has been clearly shown that immunization of insects and mice with fungal EVs can protect these animals against a subsequent infection. Fungal EVs not only influence the host response, as concluded from the observation that these compartments also work as messengers between fungal organisms. In this context, despite their size characterization, other physical properties of EVs are poorly known. For instance, their stability and half-life under physiological conditions can be a crucial parameter determining their long-distance effects. In this review, we will discuss the paradoxical and still unexploited functions and properties of fungal EVs that could be determinant for their biological functions.
ISSN:0161-5890
1872-9142
DOI:10.1016/j.molimm.2021.04.009