| Action | Mode of action | Application |
| Puromycin | Blocks translation by release of growing peptide chain | Polyribosome stability |
| Brefelden A | Reversible inhibitor of protein translocation | Translocation,Golgi complex functional analysis |
| Rifampin | Blocks transcription by interaction with RNA polymerase b-subunit | mRNA half-life studies,RNA regulation |
(Actinomycin blocks transcription by complexing with DNA, has been used in mammalian cell studies) |
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| Chloramphenicol | Blocks translation at peptidyltranserase level | Freezes polysomes: specific to prokaryotes(except mitochondria) |
(Cycloheximide has a similar action and applications in eukaryotic cells) |
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| Cordycepin | Blocks polyadenylation of hnRNA | RNA stability and transport in eukaryotes |
| Cerulenin | Inhibits fatty acid synthesis | Studies of sterol biosynthesis;inhibits HMG-CoA synthase |
| Tunicamycin | Blocks N-linked protein glycosylation | Membrane transport analyses |
| Mycophenolic acid | Blocks purine nucleotide synthesis | Studies of salvage pathways; immunosuppressive agent |
| Neomycin | Binds to specific RNA domains in ribosomes and catalytic RNA | Ribozyme/intron processing; rRNA function in decoding |