Patent ID: 7595147

Claim:
A method to identify one or more agents which inhibit the binding of a moiety to the flap-tip helix of the β subunit of core RNA polymerase, comprising a) providing a mixture formed by contacting one or more agents with isolated prokaryotic core RNA polymerase, an isolated β subunit of prokaryotic RNA polymerase, or an isolated portion of a β subunit of prokaryotic RNA polymerase which comprises the flap-tip helix, wherein the flap-tip helix includes residues corresponding to residues 900 to 909 of the β subunit of E.coli RNA polymerase, and wherein said portion is capable of binding NusA; b) contacting the mixture with a moiety which specifically binds the flap-tip helix, wherein the moiety is NusA; and c) detecting or determining whether the one or more agents inhibit the binding of the moiety to the flap-tip helix.