Extracellular vesicles in food biotechnology

The purpose of this article is to bring attention to the potential importance of extracellular vesicles (EVs) of microbial origin in the production of fermented foods. We anticipate that understanding the role of the EVs in these processes will contribute to the development of new tools in food biotechnology. The reasons that lead us to make such claim are given as: (i) the production of EVs is a widespread feature in all domains of life; (ii) a growing number of functions are being identified for EVs, the most prominent one being biological communication; (iii) the study of EVs has become important for the understanding of biological processes and as a diagnostic and therapeutic tool in the biomedical sciences; (iv) many fermented foods require the activity of microbial consortia involving multiple species; (v) an increasing number of studies are showing that interactions between microorganisms may be relevant in the development of fermentation processes and would therefore be of biotechnological interest (Curiel et al., 2017; Tronchoni et al., 2017; Conacher et al., 2019).