The bacterial transcription machinery comprises the molecular components that synthesize RNA from a DNA template and regulate progression through the transcription cycle [1]. Its catalytic core is the multisubunit RNA polymerase, a five-subunit enzyme that binds template DNA and catalyzes ribonucleotide polymerization ^[1][2]. Promoter-specific initiation requires association of the RNA polymerase core with a sigma factor, forming the holoenzyme that recognizes promoter sequences and positions the enzyme for DNA opening and transcription start-site selection ^[1][3]. Regulatory proteins modulate which promoters the polymerase recognizes and how efficiently initiation proceeds through contacts with DNA, RNA polymerase, or both ^[4]. Activators can stabilize particular transcription-complex arrangements and assist transitions toward RNA synthesis ^[3]. During termination, signals encoded in the DNA template and nascent RNA mediate intrinsic termination, whereas the ATP-dependent RNA translocase Rho binds nascent RNA and dissociates the elongation complex in Rho-dependent termination ^[4]. These components and interactions collectively organize DNA opening, template positioning, nucleotide incorporation, and the transitions linking initiation, elongation, and termination ^[5].