Maintenance forced by a restriction-modification system can be modulated by a region in its modification enzyme not essential for methyltransferase activity.

Abstract excerpt

Several type II restriction-modification gene complexes can force their maintenance on their host bacteria by killing cells that have lost them in a process called postsegregational killing or genetic addiction. It is likely to proceed by dilution of the modification enzyme molecule during rounds of cell division following the gene loss, which exposes unmethylated recognition sites on the newly replicated...

Topics

• Amino Acid Sequence
• Amino Acid Substitution
• DNA Restriction-Modification Enzymes
• DNA-Cytosine Methylases
• Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial
• Models, Genetic
• Molecular Sequence Data
• Mutation
• Phenotype
• Plasmids