Transcription of eukaryotic protein-coding genes

The past decade has seen an explosive increase in information about regulat ion of eukaryotic gene transcription, especially for protein-coding genes. The most striking advances in our knowledge of transcriptional regulation i nvolve the chromatin template, the large complexes recruited by transcripti onal activators that regulate chromatin structure and the transcription app aratus, the holoenzyme forms of RNA polymerase II involved in initiation an d elongation, and the mechanisms that link mRNA processing with its synthes is. We describe here the major advances in these areas, with particular emp hasis on the modular complexes associated with RNA polymerase II that are t argeted by activators and other regulators of mRNA biosynthesis.