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Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America logoLink to Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
. 1973 Jul;70(7):2072–2076. doi: 10.1073/pnas.70.7.2072

Action of Rifamycin Derivatives on RNA Polymerase of Human Leukemic Lymphocytes

Ming-Jer Tsai 1,2,3, Grady F Saunders 1,2,3
PMCID: PMC433668  PMID: 4516206

Abstract

The mechanism of inhibition of human RNA polymerase by four rifamycin derivatives was investigated. Derivative AF/013 (3-formyl rifamycin SV:O-n-octyloxime) with strong hydrophobic side chains prevents the polymerase from binding to DNA and also affects the size of RNA synthesized. Derivative PR/19 (3′-acetyl-1′-benzyl-2′-methylpyrrolo[3,2-c]-4-desoxy-rifamycin SV) only affects RNA synthesis when RNA polymerase has been previously incubated with the drug or when the reaction was performed at high salt concentration [0.14 M (NH4)2-SO4]. Our results suggest that these drugs exert their inhibitory actions by binding to the enzyme instead of DNA.

Keywords: (AF/013)(PR/19)

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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