The present invention provides novel nucleic acid molecules coding for sigma
subunits of Mycobacterium tuberculosis RNA polymerase. It also relates to
polypeptides, referred to as SigA and SigB, encoded by such nucleic acid molecules,
as well as to vectors and host cells transformed with the said nucleic acid molecules.
The invention further provides screening assays for compounds which inhibit the
interaction between a sigma subunit and a core RNA polymerase.
