Bacterial extracellular vesicles in foodborne pathogen adaptation and persistence: implications for One Health

Abstract

Bacterial extracellular vesicles (BEVs) play a crucial role in microbial communication, adaptation, and virulence. This review highlights how BEVs can affect the One Health framework by contributing to foodborne disease, influencing antimicrobial resistance, and supporting pathogen adaptation and persistence, thereby linking vesicle biology to food microbiology. Although progress has been made, few studies have investigated BEVs in real food matrices or food-processing environments, leaving a gap between mechanistic evidence and applied food safety. BEVs are nanosized, lipid-enclosed particles that contain proteins, lipids, DNA, metabolites, and virulence factors, produced by both Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria. Evidence indicates that BEVs produced during food production and storage are involved in stress response, toxin dissemination, and immune modulation. Several pathogens, including Staphylococcus aureus, Campylobacter jejuni, Listeria monocytogenes, and Salmonella spp., utilize BEVs to carry virulence factors that resist degradation, facilitating communication within biofilms. Their environmental resilience suggests that BEVs can persist in food environments.

Summary

BEVs serve as versatile communication vehicles that influence bacterial adaptation, host interactions, and environmental persistence. By linking cellular and ecological processes, these vesicles provide new insight into how foodborne pathogens survive and spread within interconnected environments. However, most available data derive from controlled laboratory studies, and further validation in real food and environmental systems is still needed to support their proposed One Health relevance.