Xanthomonas campestris pv. glycines strain AM2 (XcgAM2), the etiological agent of bacterial pustule disease of soybean, exhibited post-exponential rapid cell death (RCD) in LB medium. X. campestris pv. malvacearum NCIM 2310 and X. campestris NCIM 2961 also displayed RCD, though less pronouncedly than XcgAM2. RCD was not observed in Pseudomonas syringae pv. glycines, or Escherichia coli DH5alpha. Incubation of the post-exponential LB-grown XcgAM2 cultures at 4 degrees C arrested the RCD. RCD was also inhibited by the addition of starch during the exponential phase of LB-growing XcgAM2. Protease negative mutants of XcgAM2 were found to be devoid of RCD behavior observed in the wild type XcgAM2. While undergoing RCD, the organism was found to transform to spherical membrane bodies. The presence of membrane bodies was confirmed by using a membrane specific fluorescent label, 1,6-diphenyl 1,3,5-hexatriene (DPH), and also by visualizing these structures under microscope. The membrane bodies of XcgAM2 were found to contain DNA, which was devoid of the indigenous plasmids of the organism. The membrane bodies were found to bind annexin V indicative of the externalization of membrane phosphatidyl serine. Nicking of DNA in XcgAM2 cultures undergoing RCD in LB medium was also detected using a TUNEL assay. The RCD in XcgAM2 appeared to have features similar to the programmed cell death in eukaryotes.