Fungus is a unique group of organisms, neither plant nor animal, and are widely present in nature, including yeasts, molds, and mushrooms. Research on the exosomes released by fungus is crucial for understanding their biological functions. These exosomes play a key role in the interactions between fungus and their hosts, regulating immune responses, transferring pathogenic factors, and even affecting the cellular activities of the host. Due to the diversified roles of exosomes in fungus survival and pathology, Creative Biolabs believes that fungus-derived exosomes have immense research and application potential in disease treatment, vaccine development, and biotechnological applications.

Fig.1 Recently discovered interactions between fungus extracellular vesicles and the host's environment.¹

Extraction Methods for Fungus-derived Exosomes

The enrichment and separation of exosomes are key prerequisites for the study of their components and functions. Various extraction techniques have been developed based on the size, density, and immunophenotype of the exosomes, including ultracentrifugation, density gradient centrifugation, polymer precipitation, ultrafiltration, size exclusion chromatography, and immunoaffinity methods. However, the study of fungus-derived exosomes is still in its infancy, and its separation techniques are relatively simplistic. Currently, the most commonly used method for separating fungus exosomes is ultracentrifugation, which typically involves the following steps:

1. Cultivate fungus: Grow fungus in suitable media to a specific growth stage. Many studies have shown that solid media restrict the space for releasing exosomes, resulting in relatively high densities in the growth areas.

2. Collect the culture supernatant: After the fungus reach the appropriate growth stage, remove the mycelium and large particles by centrifugation, and collect the supernatant.

3. Ultracentrifugation: Use ultracentrifugation techniques to separate exosomes from the supernatant. The speed and time of centrifugation need to be precisely set according to the specific fungus species and the expected vesicle size.

4. Particle size measurement: Use a nanoparticle analyzer to test the sample and determine the diameter of the vesicles.

5. Transmission electron microscopy observation: Use a transmission electron microscope to observe the sample and confirm the presence and morphology of the exosomes.

6. Further purification (optional): Depending on the need, gradient centrifugation or other purification methods may be required to further increase the purity of the exosomes.

Biological Functions of Fungus-derived Exosomes

Fungus-derived exosomes are key mediators of communication between fungus cells and between fungus and their hosts². They have a variety of biological functions and potential applications:

• Host immune response: Fungus-derived exosomes can interact with host immune cells, stimulating immune cells, including macrophages and dendritic cells, to produce reactive nitrogen oxides, pro-inflammatory cytokines, and regulatory cytokines.
• Promote or inhibit infection: In some models, pretreatment with fungus-derived exosomes can enhance the host's resistance to infection, but in other cases, they may increase the host's sensitivity to infection.
• Transmit pathogenic factors and regulate fungus growth: Some fungus maintains a dormant state to promote the growth of other fungus, and exosomes play a key role in this process.
• Environmental interactions: Exosomes also participate in interactions between fungus and other organisms in the environment, altering the responses of these environmental predators to increase fungus survival.
• Morphological transformation and quorum sensing: Fungus-derived exosomes play a role in the transformation of fungus from yeast-like morphology to pseudohyphal morphology and act as communication tools in biofilm formation.

Biological Characteristics of Different Fungus-derived Exosomes

To reveal the unknown potential of fungus-derived exosomes, Creative Biolabs provides customers with a series of detailed materials, summarizing the unique biological characteristics of different fungus extracellular vesicles:

• Cryptococcus neoformans-derived exosome
• Cryptococcus gattii-derived exosome
• Candida albicans-derived exosome
• Paracoccidioides-derived exosome
• Malassezia-derived exosome
• Histoplasma capsulatum-derived exosome
• Aspergillus flavus-derived exosome
• Candida auris-derived exosome

Fungus-derived exosomes have shown a wide range of application potential in the fields of medicine and biotechnology. They play important roles in vaccine development as well as promoting human health and plant disease prevention. With further research, more innovative and groundbreaking applications are expected to emerge. To continuously drive scientific innovation, Creative Biolabs focuses on building a research platform for microorganism -derived exosomes. If you are interested or in need, please feel free to contact us.

References

1. Zamith-Miranda, D.; et al. Fungus extracellular vesicles: modulating host-pathogen interactions by both the fungus and the host. Microbes and Infection. 2018, 20(9-10):501-504.
2. De Toledo Martins, S.; et al. Extracellular vesicles in fungus: composition and functions. Current Topics in Microbiology and Immunology. 2019, 422:45-59.

• Protozoon-derived Exosome Research and Applications
• Bacteria-derived Exosome Research and Applications