Whitworth David E
Institute of Biological, Environmental and Rural Sciences, Aberystwyth University, Aberystwyth, Ceredigion, United Kingdom.
Adv Appl Microbiol. 2011;75:1-31. doi: 10.1016/B978-0-12-387046-9.00001-3.
Outer membrane vesicles (OMVs) are produced from the outer membrane (OM) of myxobacterial cells and are found in large quantities within myxobacterial biofilms. It has been proposed that OMVs are involved in several of the social behaviors exhibited by the myxobacteria, including motility and predation. Proteomic data suggest that specific proteins are either selectively incorporated into or excluded from myxobacterial OMVs, as observed for OMVs of other organisms. Hydrolases are found in large numbers in OMVs, which then transport them to target bacteria. Fusion of OMVs with the OM of Gram-negative cells, or lysis of OMVs next to Gram-positive bacteria, is thought to deliver hydrolases to target cells, causing their lysis. The model myxobacterium Myxococcus xanthus is a predator of other bacteria, and OMVs are likely employed as predatory agents by this organism. The transfer of motility proteins between cells of M. xanthus has been documented, and OMV-mediated transfer provides a convenient mechanism to explain this phenomenon. This review describes the general principles of OMV biology, provides an overview of myxobacterial behavior, summarizes what is currently known about myxobacterial OMVs, and discusses the potential involvement of OMVs in many features of the myxobacterial life-cycle.
外膜囊泡（OMVs）由粘细菌细胞的外膜产生，大量存在于粘细菌生物膜中。有人提出，OMVs参与了粘细菌表现出的几种社会行为，包括运动性和捕食行为。蛋白质组学数据表明，特定蛋白质要么被选择性地纳入粘细菌的OMVs，要么被排除在外，这与其他生物体的OMVs情况相同。水解酶大量存在于OMVs中，然后将它们运输到目标细菌。OMVs与革兰氏阴性细胞的外膜融合，或在革兰氏阳性细菌旁边的OMVs裂解，被认为会将水解酶传递给目标细胞，导致其裂解。模式粘细菌黄色粘球菌是其他细菌的捕食者，OMVs可能被这种生物体用作捕食因子。黄色粘球菌细胞间运动蛋白的转移已有文献记载，OMV介导的转移为解释这一现象提供了一种便捷机制。本综述描述了OMV生物学的一般原理，概述了粘细菌的行为，总结了目前关于粘细菌OMVs的已知信息，并讨论了OMVs在粘细菌生命周期的许多特征中可能发挥的作用。
