Visualizing transfer of microbial biomolecules by outer membrane vesicles in microbe-host-communication in vivo

Bittel M, Reichert P, Sarfati I, Dressel A, Leikam S, Uderhardt S, Stolzer I, Phu TA, Ng M, Vu NK, Tenzer S, Distler U, Wirtz S, Rothhammer V, Neurath M, Raffai RL, Günther C, Momma S (2021)

Publication Type: Journal article

Publication year: 2021

Journal

Journal of Extracellular Vesicles Co-Action Publishing

Book Volume: 10

Article Number: e12159

Journal Issue: 12

DOI: 10.1002/jev2.12159

Abstract

The intestinal microbiota influences mammalian host physiology in health and disease locally in the gut but also in organs devoid of direct contact with bacteria such as the liver and brain. Extracellular vesicles (EVs) or outer membrane vesicles (OMVs) released by microbes are increasingly recognized for their potential role as biological shuttle systems for inter-kingdom communication. However, physiologically relevant evidence for the transfer of functional biomolecules from the intestinal microbiota to individual host cells by OMVs in vivo is scarce. By introducing Escherichia coli engineered to express Cre-recombinase (E. coliCre) into mice with a Rosa26.tdTomato-reporter background, we leveraged the Cre-LoxP system to report the transfer of bacterial OMVs to recipient cells in vivo. Colonizing the intestine of these mice with E. coliCre, resulted in Cre-recombinase induced fluorescent reporter gene-expression in cells along the intestinal epithelium, including intestinal stem cells as well as mucosal immune cells such as macrophages. Furthermore, even far beyond the gut, bacterial-derived Cre induced extended marker gene expression in a wide range of host tissues, including the heart, liver, kidney, spleen, and brain. Together, our findings provide a method and proof of principle that OMVs can serve as a biological shuttle system for the horizontal transfer of functional biomolecules between bacteria and mammalian host cells.

Authors with CRIS profile

Miriam Bittel Department of Medicine 1 – Gastroenterology, Pneumology and Endocrinology Patrick Reichert Medizinische Fakultät Ilann Sarfati Department of Medicine 1 – Gastroenterology, Pneumology and Endocrinology Anja Dressel Department of Medicine 1 – Gastroenterology, Pneumology and Endocrinology Iris Stolzer Department of Medicine 1 – Gastroenterology, Pneumology and Endocrinology Stefan Wirtz Department of Medicine 1 – Gastroenterology, Pneumology and Endocrinology Veit Rothhammer Heisenbergprofessur für Neuroimmunologie Markus Neurath Lehrstuhl für Innere Medizin I Claudia Günther Department of Medicine 1 – Gastroenterology, Pneumology and Endocrinology

Involved external institutions

Northern California Institute for Research and Education US United States (USA) (US) University of California San Francisco (UCSF) US United States (USA) (US) Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz (JGU) DE Germany (DE) Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main DE Germany (DE)

How to cite

APA:

Bittel, M., Reichert, P., Sarfati, I., Dressel, A., Leikam, S., Uderhardt, S.,... Momma, S. (2021). Visualizing transfer of microbial biomolecules by outer membrane vesicles in microbe-host-communication in vivo. Journal of Extracellular Vesicles, 10(12). https://doi.org/10.1002/jev2.12159

MLA:

Bittel, Miriam, et al. "Visualizing transfer of microbial biomolecules by outer membrane vesicles in microbe-host-communication in vivo." Journal of Extracellular Vesicles 10.12 (2021).

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