Overview of the functional aspects of fungal EVs.

A. Fungal cells release heterogeneous populations of EVs that are immunologically active, as inferred from experimental models resulting in positive modulation of cytokine and nitric oxide (NO) production after exposure of host cells to EVs. Treatment of immune effector cells with EVs induces increased expression of CD86 and MHC-II molecules. For details and references, see Table 1. B. Biogenesis of fungal EVs is illustrated through (I) plasma membrane remodeling, resulting in cytoplasmic subtractions (inverted macropinocytosis), (II) membrane budding, resulting in ectosome formation, and (III) multivesicular body (MVB) formation, followed by fusion with the plasma membrane for the extracellular release of exosomes. C. The current literature supports the notion that fungal EVs can be lyzed for cargo release (IV). Alternatively, fungal EVs can be either internalized by (V) or fuse with the plasma membrane of host cells, likely resulting in the intracellular release of vesicular cargo (VI).