bacterial extracellular vesicle

GO:0097691 · Other · Membrane bounded organelle · Proposed

Small membrane vesicle (< 1 um) that buds off a prokaryotic cell plasma membrane, able to carry proteins, phospholipids, lipopolysaccharides, nucleic acids, viruses, and more. Important in intercellular communication and pathogenesis; can exist within host cells. [GO:0097691]

Synonyms: bacterial membrane vesicle

Xrefs: uniprot.location:SL-0489 — Bacterial extracellular vesicle

UniProt location names: UniProt Consortium, CC BY 4.0. Reference label and route sources.

Components

Component	Type	Part of / acts on	Grounding	Genes	Stoichiometry	Essential	Role
bacterial extracellular vesicle membrane	Other	part of	Reviewed label only (reviewed name; no accession asserted)			ESSENTIAL	Composite membrane that bounds the released bacterial extracellular vesicle and carries or encloses its packaged cargo. `GO:0097691` GO:0097691 defines the bacterial extracellular vesicle as a small membrane vesicle that buds from a bacterial plasma membrane. `DOI:10.1038/s41579-018-0112-2` Toyofuku, Nomura and Eberl 2019 review distinct bacterial membrane-vesicle origins and compositions.
bacterial extracellular vesicle cargo	Other	part of	Reviewed label only (reviewed name; no accession asserted)			UNKNOWN	Variable bacterial material packaged inside or associated with the extracellular vesicle for export to neighboring microbes or host cells. `GO:0097691` GO:0097691 lists proteins, phospholipids, lipopolysaccharides, nucleic acids and viruses among the cargos bacterial extracellular vesicles can carry. `DOI:10.1016/j.semcdb.2015.02.006` Kim et al. 2015 review bacterial extracellular vesicles from Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria as extracellular carriers of bioactive cargo.

Taxonomic distribution

NCBITaxon:2 Bacteria — VARIABLE: Both Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria release extracellular membrane vesicles, with occurrence and vesicle origin varying by species and growth condition. [DOI:10.1016/j.semcdb.2015.02.006]

Canonical examples

NCBITaxon:1280 Staphylococcus aureus — Staphylococcus aureus is a Gram-positive model in which extracellular membrane vesicle release and vesicle protein cargo were experimentally characterized. [DOI:10.1002/pmic.200900338]

Functions

bacterial extracellular cargo delivery — Bacterial extracellular vesicles move membrane-associated and luminal cargo from producing bacteria into the extracellular milieu, where vesicle contents can affect neighboring microbes or host cells.
- DOI:10.1038/s41579-018-0112-2 Toyofuku, Nomura and Eberl 2019 review bacterial membrane vesicles as vehicles for molecular cargo in microbe-microbe and host-microbe interactions.

Mechanism graphs

Bacterial extracellular vesicles carry exported cargo (FUNCTION)

Bacterial extracellular vesicles contain a mixed membrane and heterogeneous cargo that are released from the producing bacterium and can be delivered to neighboring microbes or host cells.

Subject	Predicate	Object	Evidence
bacterial extracellular vesicle	carries	bacterial extracellular vesicle cargo	`GO:0097691` GO:0097691 defines the vesicle as a membrane vesicle able to carry multiple cargo classes. `DOI:10.1038/s41579-018-0112-2` Toyofuku, Nomura and Eberl 2019 review cargo packaging across bacterial membrane-vesicle types.
bacterial extracellular vesicle membrane	is part of	bacterial extracellular vesicle	`GO:0097691` GO:0097691 identifies the structure as a small bacterial membrane vesicle.

Discussions

CURATION_TODO (OPEN): Resolve exact source-neutral groundings for the membrane and cargo classes that span all bacterial extracellular vesicle origins. The first GO:0097691 record models the conserved vesicle membrane and cargo relationship, but leaves the heterogeneous Gram-negative and Gram-positive membrane sources and cargo sets ungrounded until exact component identifiers can be verified.
INTERPRETATION (RESOLVED): The generic labels membrane vesicle and microvesicle are not curated as exact bacterial extracellular vesicle synonyms. UniProt SL-0489 lists Bacterial membrane vesicle, Membrane vesicle and Microvesicle as entry synonyms. Only bacterial membrane vesicle is exact enough for GO:0097691; the generic labels also denote non-bacterial extracellular vesicles.

Evidence

GO:0097691 Gene Ontology cellular-component term for bacterial extracellular vesicle.
GO:1903561 Gene Ontology cellular-component term for extracellular vesicle.
uniprot.location:SL-0489 — Bacterial extracellular vesicle UniProt Subcellular Location entry that maps Bacterial extracellular vesicle to GO:0097691.
DOI:10.1016/j.semcdb.2015.02.006 Kim et al. 2015, Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacterial extracellular vesicles, Seminars in Cell and Developmental Biology.
DOI:10.1038/s41579-018-0112-2 Toyofuku, Nomura and Eberl 2019, Types and origins of bacterial membrane vesicles, Nature Reviews Microbiology.
DOI:10.1002/pmic.200900338 Lee et al. 2009, Gram-positive bacteria produce membrane vesicles: proteomics-based characterization of Staphylococcus aureus-derived membrane vesicles, Proteomics.

Curation history

2026-09-12T14:56:28Z codex · CREATED_RECORD — Scaffolded by scripts/new_record.py
2026-09-12T14:57:38Z codex · EXPANDED_RECORD — Added extracellular-vesicle parentage, the UniProt Subcellular Location xref, BEV synonymy, reviewed-label membrane and cargo components, bacterial scope, a Staphylococcus aureus canonical example, a cargo-delivery function, DOI/GO/UniProt evidence, a nonmechanistic vesicle-boundary graph, and boundary discussions for exact component groundings and generic UniProt synonyms.
2026-09-12T15:02:41Z codex · ADDRESS_REVIEW — Resolved #663 and #664 by retyping the BEV membrane as a mixed OTHER component and changing the cargo graph so the vesicle carries cargo instead of asserting that the membrane encloses all cargo.
2026-09-12T15:02:57Z codex · TIGHTENED_REVIEW_FIX — Tightened #663 and #664 follow-up wording to describe membrane-associated cargo and the mixed vesicle membrane consistently.

Source: data/structures/other/bacterial_extracellular_vesicle.yaml