Molecular basis for control of DNA transcription of housekeeping genes

The development of a multicellular organism requires expression of many thousands of different messenger RNAs, at exactly the right time, in the right set of cells and in the right amount. Thus, the need for stringent regulation gene expression arises. This Project aims at understanding how 90% of all eukaryotic genes are regulated. The data will show how a massive protein complex of ~50 individual gene products'the general transcription machinery'identifies the start site of a gene, recruits RNA polymerase II and prepares it for transcription of the genetic code.