This introductory review aims at summarizing the vast and varied field about how transcript abundance
is controlled in eukaryotes. The field of transcriptional regulation is a very exciting one right now.
Many new discoveries are turning many concepts we have had about eukaryotic transcription sideways, if
not occasionally, upside-down. Furthermore, important topics will be pointed out that are explored in more
detail as their own chapters of this eBook. The regulation of transcription is a multi-step process that can be
and is regulated at every level, from the access of DNA, to the recruitment and process of transcription, on to
the regulation of RNA stability, function and form. The complete introductory review encompasses the first
two chapters of this book. The first part of the review focuses on what is currently known and studied with
respect to new paradigms for the mechanism of transcription and the protein components that modulate it.
The second half of the review covers the canonical core promoter and varied types of promoter classes that
are now being revealed through genomic studies.
Keywords: eukaryotic transcription, RNA Polymerase II, Pol II, RNAP II, transcription cycle, Initation, Elongation, Termination,
DNA-dependent RNA polymerases, Pol I, Pol III, Pol IV, Pol V, pre-initiation complex (PIC), general transcription
factor (GTF), TBP-association factor (TAF), TPB paralogs, positive and negative cofactors, PIC assembly, TATA-binding
protein (TBP).
