The effect of rifampicin on the stability of the messenger ribonucleic acid of Bacillus amyloliquefaciens as determined by DNA:RNA hybridization.

Rifampicin at a concentration of 10 mug/ml completely inhibited protein synthesis in exponential-phase cultures of Bacillus amyloliquefaciens. At this same concentration the drug was shown to have no effect on the stability of mRNA, determined as the functional and hybridizable material, when compared with hybridizable mRNA in an uninhibited system. In each case, the half-life of the mRNA had a value in the range 5 +/- 1 min, at 30 degrees C.