RT Journal Article SR Electronic T1 Peptide-based quorum sensing systems in Paenibacillus polymyxa JF Life Science Alliance JO Life Sci. Alliance FD Life Science Alliance LLC SP e202000847 DO 10.26508/lsa.202000847 VO 3 IS 10 A1 Maya Voichek A1 Sandra Maaß A1 Tobias Kroniger A1 Dörte Becher A1 Rotem Sorek YR 2020 UL https://www.life-science-alliance.org/content/3/10/e202000847.abstract AB 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.