Question

A new antibiotic is able to bind the rho (rho) factor associated with some transcription processes. As a result, this antibiotic would affect?

1) initiation of transcription.
2) elongation of transcription.
3) binding of the RNA polymerase.
4) termination of all transcription.
5) termination of some transcription.

Answer 1

A new antibiotic binding to the rho factor would specifically affect the option 5) termination of some transcription processes that depend on rho's helicase activity in prokaryotes.

Step-by-step explanation:

If a new antibiotic binds to the rho (rho) factor involved in RNA transcription, this antibiotic would affect the termination of some transcription processes (option 5). The rho factor is an ATP-dependent helicase that participates in rho-dependent termination of transcription in prokaryotes by facilitating the detachment of the newly synthesized RNA strand from the DNA template. Therefore, an antibiotic that inhibits the rho factor would prevent this specific type of termination, leaving other parts of the transcription process like initiation, elongation, and rho-independent termination unaffected.