The RNA polymerase II core promoter: a key component in the regulation of gene expression.

The development, growth, and survival of eukaryotic organisms require the proper regulation of tens of thousands of genes. By complex formulae that have yet to be solved, the expression of each of these thousands of genes is controlled by a wide variety of mechanisms (e.g., see Lefstin and Yamamoto 1998; Roeder 1998; Struhl 1999; Glass and Rosenfeld 2000; Lee and Young 2000; Lemon and Tjian 2000; Strahl and Allis 2000; Courey and Jia 2001; Smale 2001; White 2001; Zhang and Reinberg 2001; Emerson 2002; McKenna and O’Malley 2002; Narlikar et al. 2002; Orphanides and Reinberg 2002; West et al. 2002). In this review, we will focus on one of these regulatory components—the RNA polymerase II core promoter.