The Rockefeller University Press $30.00 J. Cell Biol. Vol. 208 No. 5 545–562 www.jcb.org/cgi/doi/10.1083/jcb.201406100 JCB 545 *S. Thangavel and M. Berti contributed equally to this paper. Correspondence to Alessandro Vindigni: [email protected] Abbreviations used in this paper: CPT, camptothecin; DSB, double-strand DNA break; EXO1, human exonuclease I; HDR, Homology directed repair; HR, homolog...

Exponentially growing recA mutant cells of Escherichia coli display pronounced DNA degradation that starts at the sites of DNA damage and depends on RecBCD nuclease (ExoV) activity. As a consequence of this "reckless" DNA degradation, populations of recA mutants contain a large proportion of anucleate cells. We have found that both DNA degradation and anucleate-cell production are efficiently s...