The parB region of plasmid R1 encodes two genes, hok and sok, which are required for the plasmid‐stabilizing activity exerted by parB. The hok gene encodes a potent cell‐killing factor, and it is regulated by the sok gene product such that cells losing a parB‐carrying plasmid during cell division are rapidly killed. Coinciding with death of the host cell, a characteristic change in morphology is observed. Here we show that the killing factor encoded by the hok gene is a membrane‐associated polypeptide of 52 amino acids. A gene located in the Escherichia coli relB operon, designated relF, is shown to be homologous to the hok gene. The relF gene codes for a polypeptide of 51 amino acids, which is 40% homologous to the hok gene product. Induced overexpression of the hok and relF gene products results in the same phenomena: loss of cell membrane potential, arrest of respiration, death of the host cell and change in cell morphology. The parB region and the relB genes were cloned into unstably inherited oriC minichromosomes. Whereas the parB region also conferred a high degree of genetic stability to an oriC minichromosome, the relB operon (with relF) did not; therefore the latter does not appear to ‘stabilize’ its replicon (the chromosome). The function of the relF gene is not known.

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Clostridium difficile-associated diarrhea (CDAD) is regarded as an emerging nosocomial infection. All patients positive for C. difficile in Sweden were recorded during 1995, including primary care patients. Those positive for toxin in feces were defined as CDAD cases. A total of 5,133 CDAD cases were recorded (58 per 100,000 inhabitants per year), as compared with 86 cases diagnosed in 1978 and 553 in 1983. CDAD was almost twice as prevalent as all (combined) diagnosed domestic cases of reportable bacterial and protozoal diarrhea. The age-specific incidence was little affected by gender but increased > 10-fold over the age range of 60-98 years. The differences in overall CDAD incidence were sixfold between counties and threefold between major hospitals. Among hospitalized patients the incidences were highest in geriatric/rehabilitation wards, followed by infectious diseases and internal medicine wards; 28% of all cases involved no recent hospitalization and were defined as community-acquired CDAD.

The E2F transcription factors are key targets for the retinoblastoma protein, pRB. By inactivation of E2Fs, pRB prevents progression to the S phase. To test proliferative functions of E2F, we generated transgenic mice expressing human E2F-1 and/or human DP-1. When the hydroxymethyl glutaryl coenzyme A reductase promoter was used to express DP-1, overexpression occurred in a variety of tissues and did not confer phenotypic changes. In contrast, expression of E2F-1 from the same promoter was obtained only in testicles, in which E2F-1 overexpression caused atrophy and sterility through a process involving increased apoptosis in the germinal epithelium. This eect was potentiated by simultaneous overexpression of DP-1. Testicular atrophy as a result of overexpression of E2F-1 and DP-1 is independent of functional p53, since p53-nullizygous transgenic mice overexpressing E2F-1 and DP-1 also suered testicular atrophy.

The S100A4(mts1) is a gene associated with generation of metastatic disease. In order to analyze the consequences of alteration of the pattern of expression of the S100A4(mts1) gene we obtained strains of transgenic mice bearing the S100A4(mts1) gene under the control of a ubiquitous and constitutive 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl CoA reductase (HMGCR) gene promoter. In transgenic animals the expression of the transgene RNA was detected in all organs, but only some of the organs showed elevated levels of the protein. Expression of the S100A4(Mts1) protein was downregulated in the organs that normally do not express the gene in the wild-type animal. The transgene RNA is detected in the polysomes indicating that it could be translated into the S100A4(Mts1) protein. The specificity of the S100A4(Mts1) protein expression is determined by a complex mechanism including regulation of translation and/or posttranslational degradation.