Abstract
Cross-kingdom trafficking of extracellular vesicles (EVs) is documented between plants and fungal pathogens, yet evidence for plant-herbivore exchange remains scarce. Here we show that EVs isolated from Nicotiana tabacum suspension cultures show fluorescence consistent with uptake by the pedal epithelial cells of the herbivorous slug Arion vulgaris within 30 min ex vivo. Fluorescently labeled EVs appeared as discrete intracellular puncta enriched in glandular ridges; unlabeled EVs and final-wash controls showed no detectable fluorescence under identical imaging settings. These observations suggest that plant EVs can cross the mucus barrier of a molluscan herbivore, enabling plant-to-slug molecular communication.