Engineering chemical communication between kingdoms

Most cells excrete small, membrane-bound particles called extracellular vesicles (EVs). For years after their discovery EVs were regarded merely as waste products but they are now recognized as biological messengers, carrying cellular materials between cells. How specific cargo is selected for delivery via EVs and how they are received by the recipient is currently not understood which limits their application in biological systems. We have shown that EVs isolated from natural bacterial communities can deliver information that alters the physiology of the round worm C. elegans. We propose to use this experimental paradigm to unravel how nature has solved the tasks of cargo delivery and use this as basis for engineering a new language of communication between kingdoms based on EVs. This will be a powerful new tool for modulating biological processes, synthetic biology and biotechnology applications such as biofactories, wastewater treatment, biomonitoring, and pest control.