Extracellular Vesicles and Bacteriophages: New Directions in Environmental Biocolloid Research

• Published in: Environmental science & technology Vol. 57; no. 44; pp. 16728 - 16742
• Main Authors: Hicks, Ethan, Rogers, Nicholas M. K., Hendren, Christine Ogilvie, Kuehn, Meta J., Wiesner, Mark R.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Easton American Chemical Society 07.11.2023
• Subjects: Agricultural engineering; Agricultural practices; Agricultural wastes; Engineers; Environmental engineering; Environmental impact; Extracellular vesicles; Microbiology; Particle interactions; Phages; Review; Surface properties; Sustainable agriculture; Sustainable practices; Vesicles; Wastewater treatment; extracellular vesicles; outer membrane vesicles; bacteriophages; deposition; Smoluchowski; aggregation; biocolloids; environmental fate
• ISSN: 0013-936X; 1520-5851
• DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.3c05041

There is a long-standing appreciation among environmental engineers and scientists regarding the importance of biologically derived colloidal particles and their environmental fate. This interest has been recently renewed in considering bacteriophages and extracellular vesicles, which are each poised to offer engineers unique insights into fundamental aspects of environmental microbiology and novel approaches for engineering applications, including advances in wastewater treatment and sustainable agricultural practices. Challenges persist due to our limited understanding of interactions between these nanoscale particles with unique surface properties and their local environments. This review considers these biological particles through the lens of colloid science with attention given to their environmental impact and surface properties. We discuss methods developed for the study of inert (nonbiological) particle–particle interactions and the potential to use these to advance our understanding of the environmental fate and transport of extracellular vesicles and bacteriophages.