bacterial outer membrane vesicle

GO:0061701 · Other · Membrane bounded organelle · Proposed

A spherical, bilayered proteolipid vesicle released from gram-negative bacterial outer membranes. [GO:0061701]

Synonyms: outer membrane vesicle; OMV

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
outer membrane vesicle proteolipid bilayer	Lipid	part of	Reviewed label only (reviewed name; no accession asserted)			ESSENTIAL	Outer-membrane-derived bilayer that encloses periplasmic material in the released vesicle. `GO:0061701` GO:0061701 defines the bacterial outer membrane vesicle as a bilayered proteolipid vesicle released from Gram-negative bacterial outer membranes. `DOI:10.1038/nrmicro3525` Schwechheimer and Kuehn 2015 review OMVs as outer membrane buds from Gram-negative bacteria that carry outer-membrane and periplasmic material.
outer membrane vesicle lumen cargo	Other	part of	Reviewed label only (reviewed name; no accession asserted)			UNKNOWN	Variable lumen material packaged inside the OMV during budding and exported from the producing cell. `DOI:10.1002/pmic.200700196` Lee et al. 2007 profiled native Escherichia coli outer membrane vesicles and catalogued the proteins packaged in those vesicles. `DOI:10.1038/s41579-018-0112-2` Toyofuku, Nomura and Eberl 2019 review bacterial membrane-vesicle types and the distinct cargo sets associated with their origins.

Taxonomic distribution

NCBITaxon:2 Bacteria — VARIABLE: Outer membrane vesicles are a Gram-negative bacterial vesicle class; bacteria with other envelope architectures release related but non-OMV membrane vesicles. [DOI:10.1038/s41579-018-0112-2]

Canonical examples

NCBITaxon:562 Escherichia coli — Gram-negative model in which native outer membrane vesicle proteomes and OMV-driven host inflammatory responses have been experimentally characterized. [DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0011334]

Functions

outer membrane vesicle-mediated export — Outer membrane vesicles bud from the cell surface to export outer-membrane and periplasmic molecules into the extracellular environment.
- DOI:10.1038/nrmicro3525 Schwechheimer and Kuehn 2015 review outer membrane vesicle biogenesis and functions in Gram-negative bacteria.
outer membrane vesicle intercellular delivery — The vesicle carries bacterial envelope and lumen cargo to other cells, supporting interactions with host cells and neighboring microbes.
- DOI:10.1038/s41579-018-0112-2 Toyofuku, Nomura and Eberl 2019 review bacterial membrane vesicles as extracellular carriers that move biomolecules among bacteria and to host cells.

Mechanism graphs

Outer membrane blebs package periplasm into vesicles (ASSEMBLY)

A Gram-negative outer membrane bulges outward, enclosing periplasmic material in an outer-membrane-derived bilayer that is released as a bacterial outer membrane vesicle.

Subject	Predicate	Object	Evidence
cell outer membrane	buds into	outer membrane vesicle proteolipid bilayer	`GO:0061701` GO:0061701 defines bacterial outer membrane vesicles as being released from Gram-negative bacterial outer membranes. `DOI:10.1038/nrmicro3525` Schwechheimer and Kuehn 2015 review OMV budding from the Gram-negative outer membrane.
outer membrane vesicle proteolipid bilayer	encloses	outer membrane vesicle lumen cargo	`DOI:10.1002/pmic.200700196` Lee et al. 2007 profiled the protein cargo of native Escherichia coli OMVs. `DOI:10.1038/s41579-018-0112-2` Toyofuku, Nomura and Eberl 2019 review how different bacterial vesicle origins shape cargo packaging.
outer membrane vesicle proteolipid bilayer	is part of	bacterial outer membrane vesicle	`GO:0061701` GO:0061701 defines an OMV as a bilayered proteolipid vesicle.

Discussions

CURATION_TODO (OPEN): Resolve exact source-neutral identifiers for OMV lipid, outer-membrane protein and lumen-cargo component classes. The first OMV record models the conserved vesicle boundary and cargo concept but leaves the heterogeneous LPS, phospholipid, beta-barrel and soluble-cargo sets ungrounded until exact component identifiers can be verified.
INTERPRETATION (RESOLVED): Gram-positive bacterial membrane vesicles and outer-inner membrane vesicles are outside the exact GO:0061701 boundary. GO:0061701 denotes Gram-negative outer membrane vesicles. This record therefore excludes broader bacterial extracellular vesicle classes that originate from the cytoplasmic membrane or contain both outer and inner membrane.

Evidence

GO:0061701 Gene Ontology cellular-component term for bacterial outer membrane vesicle.
GO:1903561 Gene Ontology cellular-component term for extracellular vesicle.
GO:0009279 Gene Ontology cellular-component term for the cell outer membrane.
DOI:10.1038/nrmicro3525 Schwechheimer and Kuehn 2015, Outer-membrane vesicles from Gram-negative bacteria: biogenesis and functions, Nature Reviews Microbiology.
DOI:10.1038/s41579-018-0112-2 Toyofuku, Nomura and Eberl 2019, Types and origins of bacterial membrane vesicles, Nature Reviews Microbiology.
DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0011334 Park et al. 2010, Outer Membrane Vesicles Derived from Escherichia coli Induce Systemic Inflammatory Response Syndrome, PLOS ONE.
DOI:10.1002/pmic.200700196 Lee et al. 2007, Global proteomic profiling of native outer membrane vesicles derived from Escherichia coli, Proteomics.

Curation history

2026-09-12T13:14:20Z codex · CREATED_RECORD — Scaffolded by scripts/new_record.py
2026-09-12T13:16:07Z codex · EXPANDED_RECORD — Added GO extracellular-vesicle parentage, OMV synonymy, reviewed-label proteolipid bilayer and lumen-cargo components, Gram-negative bacterial scope, an Escherichia coli example, OMV export and delivery functions, a nonmechanistic budding graph, and component-boundary discussions.
2026-09-12T13:21:34Z codex · ADDRESS_REVIEW — Addressed review issues #652 and #653 by typing OMV cargo as a STRUCTURE component node and changing the bilayer-to-vesicle graph edge from bounds to is part of.

Source: data/structures/other/bacterial_outer_membrane_vesicle.yaml