Preparation of Outer Membrane Vesicles from Myxococcus xanthus

Abstract

Outer membrane vesicles (OMVs) represent a unique sub-cellular compartment of bacteria that may act as a scaffold for various extracellular activities, including intercellular signaling. Myxococcus xanthus (M. xanthus) is a predatory bacterium that engages in cell-cell behaviors such as fruiting body formation and contact dependent lysis of other microbes. The OMVs of M. xanthus have been shown to have an elaborate architecture of chains and tubes that can connect cells within a biofilm. These higher order OMV structures have been shown to contain proteins exchanged for community behaviors and small molecules that have antibiotic activities, and may help facilitate directed exchange. M. xanthus OMVs allow material transfer between neighboring cells for motility and predation.