Exocytosis articles from across Nature Portfolio

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) have emerged as important players in intercellular communication, carrying proteins, lipids, nucleic acids and various signalling molecules between cells. Unravelling how these different cargoes are sorted into EVs in a regulated and context-specific manner is essential to understanding the specificity of EV-mediated signalling.

Exocytosis is a fundamental cellular process. Here, the authors report an unusual exocytosis mechanism in the silicified cell wall of diatoms, in which membrane patches are discarded.

Kang and colleagues find that plasma membrane flipping of Syntaxin-2 from inside (inhibitory) to outside (relief of inhibition) of pancreatic β-cells helps fine-tune insulin secretion. Increasing this flipping efficiency can alleviate the impaired insulin secretion in diabetes.

This protocol describes the isolation from brain tissue of extracellular vesicle subpopulations, including microvesicles, exosomes and mitochondria-derived mitovesicles, using a high-resolution (iodixanol) density step gradient. Extracellular vesicle characterization and analysis are also presented.

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are increasingly recognized as having ubiquitous roles in the immune system. This Review focuses on the progress made in the field in the past 5 years, including the roles of EVs in innate and adaptive immunity and their potential use in diagnosis and therapy.