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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.

Batch cultures of Escherichia coli were grown in miniimal media supplemented with various carbon sources which supported growth at specific growth rates from 0.2 to 1.3/h. The respiration rates of the cultures were measured continuously. With few exceptions, the specific rate of oxygen consumption was about 20 mmol of O2/h per g (dry weight), suggesting that the respiratory capacity was limited at this value. The adenosine triphosphate (ATP) required for the production of cell material from the different carbon sources was calculated on the basis of known ATP requirements in the biochemical pathways and routes of macromolecular synthesis. The calculated ATP requirements, together with the measured growth rates and growth yields on the different carbon sources, were used to calculate the rate of ATP synthesis by oxidative phosphorylation. This rate was closely related to the respiration rate. We suggest that aerobic growth of E. coli in batch cultures is limited by the rate of respiration and the concomitant rate of ATP generation through oxidative phosphorylation.

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The sdrA224 mutants of Escherichia coli K‐12, capable of continued DNA replication in the absence of protein synthesis (stable DNA replication), tolerate inactivation of the dnaA gene by insertion of transposon Tn10. Furthermore, oriC, the origin of E. coli chromosome replication, can be deleted from the chromosome of sdrA mutants without loss of viability. The results suggest the presence of a second, normally repressed, initiation system for chromosome replication alternative to the ‘normal’ dnaA+ oriC+‐dependent initiation mechanism.

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The origin of replication, oriC, of the Escherichia coll chromosome was mapped within a DNA segment of 422 base pairs. The nucleotide sequence of this segment was determined. The source of DNA for the sequence analysis was a minichromosome constructed in vivo, consisting exclusively of chromosomal DNA and a minichromosome constructed by cloning in vitro. The nucleotide sequence of the replication origin is characterized by a high degree of repetitiveness due to both inverted and direct repeats. Sequence homologies were found between portions of the replication origins of E. coli and phages A and G4. This suggests similarities in some steps in the initiation of replication of the different replicons.