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Abstract
The endonuclease and methyl-transferase enzymes of type II restriction modification (RM) systems function independently. Type II RM systems can induce programmed cell death by the same mechanism as addiction modules such as mazEF. The mazEF system has previously been shown to induce cell death when protein synthesis is inhibited. In the current work we tested whether cell death due to protein synthesis inhibition could be mediated by a type II RM system in Escherichia coli. We monitored cell death through the detection of DNA cleavage using pulsed field gel electrophoresis at several time points after the addition of antibiotics. We found DNA cleavage and degradation after antibiotic treatment in RM positive strains, but not in the RM negative strain tested. These results suggest that chromosome cleavage may be a mechanism of cell killing by antibiotics.