Peptide-based quorum sensing systems in Paenibacillus polymyxa.

Maya Voichek,Dörte Becher,Tobias Kroniger,Sandra Maaß,Rotem Sorek

doi:10.26508/lsa.202000847

Maya Voichek, Dörte Becher + Show 3 more

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https://doi.org/10.26508/lsa.202000847

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Abstract

Paenibacillus polymyxa is an agriculturally important plant growth-promoting rhizobacterium. Many Paenibacillus species are known to be engaged in complex bacteria-bacteria and bacteria-host interactions, which in other species were shown to necessitate quorum sensing communication. However, to date, no quorum sensing systems have been described in Paenibacillus Here, we show that the type strain P. polymyxa ATCC 842 encodes at least 16 peptide-based communication systems. Each of these systems is comprised of a pro-peptide that is secreted to the growth medium and processed to generate a mature short peptide. Each peptide has a cognate intracellular receptor of the RRNPP family, and we show that external addition of P. polymyxa communication peptides leads to reprogramming of the transcriptional response. We found that these quorum sensing systems are conserved across hundreds of species belonging to the Paenibacillaceae family, with some species encoding more than 25 different peptide-receptor pairs, representing a record number of quorum sensing systems encoded in a single genome.

Highlights

Paenibacillaceae is a diverse family of bacteria, many of which are important in agricultural and clinical settings
As tetratricopeptide repeat (TPR) domains are found in diverse protein types, we manually analyzed the genomic vicinity of the identified TPR-containing proteins to search for a peptide-encoding gene characteristic of quorum sensing systems
We found two TPR domain genes that were immediately followed by a short open reading frame with a predicted N-terminal hydrophobic helix, typical of a signal peptide that targets the pro-peptide for secretion [33] (Fig 1A)

Summary

Introduction

Paenibacillaceae is a diverse family of bacteria, many of which are important in agricultural and clinical settings. These include Paenibacillus larvae, a pathogen causing the lethal American Foulbrood disease in honeybees [1], as well as Paenibacillus dendritiformis and Paenibacillus vortex, which are used as models for complex colony pattern formation [2, 3]. Many of the characteristic features associated with the abovementioned behaviors—production and secretion of antimicrobials, expression of virulence factors, and forming complex colony structures—often require some form of intercellular communication such as quorum sensing [12]. Paenibacillus bacteria are engaged in similar behaviors, no quorum sensing was reported in any Paenibacillus species to date

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