Project description:Paenibacillus polymyxa is an agriculturally important plant growth promoting rhizobacterium (PGPR). Many Paenibacillus species are known to be engaged in complex bacteria-bacteria and bacteria-host interactions, which in other bacteria were shown to necessitate quorum sensing communication, but 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 comprises a pro-peptide that is secreted to the growth medium and further 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 to the medium 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.
Project description:Transcriptional profiling of the bacteria Paenibacillus vortex comparing control untreated cells with kanamycin treated cells after 18 hours of exposure. Goal was to determine the effect of the antibiotic kanamycin in concentration which affect the colony morphology on global bacteria gene expression.
Project description:Here we apply a metabolomics to study the interaction of two co-isolated model organisms, Xanthomonas retroflexus and Paenibacillus amylolyticus. When cultured in close proximity on agar plates Xanthomonas retroflexus induces a clear morphological response from Paenibacillus amylolyticus, leading to enhanced growth of Paenibacillus amylolyticus. Application of 2D spatial metabolomics shows how Xanthomonas retroflexus influences the chemical environment by production specific metabolites.
