Novobiocin inhibits animal DNA polymerase alpha and avian reverse transcriptase activities when these enzymes are assayed in vitro with activated DNA as template. Under the same conditions DNA polymerase beta and gamma are much less inhibited. DNA polymerase alpha and reverse transcriptase are inhibited by different mechanisms: in the case of the retroviral enzyme the effect of novobiocin is not overcome by dilution of the drug, while in the case of polymerase alpha the inhibition disappeared after novobiocin dilution. The inhibition of polymerase alpha by novobiocin is non-competitive with respect to the TTP precursor or activated DNA. The irreversible inactivation of reverse transcriptase by novobiocin leads to the loss of the enzyme affinity for primer tRNATrp. Moreover, novobiocin inhibits the partial unwinding of the 3' end of tRNATrp by reverse transcriptase.