Influence of DNA Template Choice on Transcription and Inhibition of Escherichia coli RNA Polymerase

In recent decades, quantitative transcription assays using bacterial RNA polymerase (RNAP) have been performed under widely diverse experimental conditions. We demonstrate that the template choice can influence the inhibitory potency of RNAP inhibitors. Furthermore, we illustrate that the sigma factor (σ(70)) surprisingly increases the transcription efficiency of templates with nonphysiological nonprokaryotic promoters. Our results might be a useful guideline in the early stages of using RNAP for drug discovery.