Transposons are a group of mobile genetic elements that are defined as a DNA sequence. Transposons can jump into different places of the genome; for this reason, they are called jumping genes. However, some transposons are always kept at the insertion site in the genome. Most transposons are inactivated and as a result, cannot move. Transposons are divided into two main groups: retrotransposons (class І) and DNA transposons (class ІІ). Retrotransposons are often found in eukaryotes. DNA transposons can be found in both eukaryotes and prokaryotes. The bacterial transposons belong to the DNA transposons and the Tn family, which are usually the carrier of additional genes for antibiotic resistance. Transposons can transfer from a plasmid to other plasmids or from a DNA chromosome to plasmid and vice versa that cause the transmission of antibiotic resistance genes in bacteria. The treatment of bacterial infectious diseases is difficult because of existing antibiotic resistance that part of this antibiotic resistance is caused by transposons. Bacterial infectious diseases are responsible for the increasing rise in world mortality rate. In this review, transposons and their roles have been studied in bacterial antibiotic resistance, in detail.

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Background: CEA and CA 15.3 serum tumor markers are currently used in clinical practice for monitoring therapy. The aim of this study was to evaluate serum level of these markers among healthy females and invasive breast carcinoma (IBC) patients and to determine any relationships with clinicopathological factors. Materials and Methods: 60 Iranian females were enrolled in this study, 30 healthy and 30 diagnosed with breast cancer who had not received any preoperative chemotherapy or hormone therapy. Enzyme linked immunosorbent assays were used for the quantitative determination of the cancer associated antigens, CEA and MUC1 (CA15-3). Results: The serological levels of CEA and CA15-3 (5.0033±0.49 µg/L and 178.1667±15.11 U/ml) in the breast cancer patients were significantly higher (p=0.00) than the serum levels of normal controls (1.1237±0.11 µg/L and 21.13±3.058 U/ml). Regarding the CEA marker, a significant correlation with grade of tumor was shown. Furthermore, there was a low correlation between CA15-3 and CEA marker with correlation coefficient r=0.08. Conclusions: Collectively, markedly high levels of CEA and CA15-3 were found in our patients, pointing to their use as additional tools after clinical diagnosis.

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Cytolethal distending toxin (CDT)-producing Escherichia coli strains are considered to be a heterogeneous group of E. coli. In the present investigation, 20 CDT-producing E. coli strains, which had already been shown to be cytotoxic necrotizing factor (cnf) gene positive, were selected by PCR. Since these strains proved to be CDT producers on CHO cells but were partially characterized by PCR, they were subjected to PCR analysis to amplify the complete coding region of cdt genes. Moreover, the genetic relatedness of these strains was examined by pulse field gel electrophoresis (PFGE). To check the extent of homogeneity of these strains at the chromosomal level, tRNA insertion site analysis was performed. The CDT-producing E. coli strains under investigation were shown to be heterogeneous and diverse in regard to their genetic analysis. This observed diversity could be an independent acquisition of virulence genes that might occur through horizontal gene transfer by mobile genetic elements. This conclusion is based on the fact that data shown by tRNA insertion site analysis revealed that there is no common pattern of insertion among these isolates although they do share a common trait of CDT production.

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