Difference between revisions of "Promoters/Overview"
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[[Image:PromoterIconBC.png|thumb|right|400px|The regsitry symbol for a promoter is shown above a typical sequence for a bacterial promoter.  The lavender shaded boxes indicate the two most conserved regions of a bacterial promoter and are located at -10 and -35 bases from the transcriptional start site (shaded in green).  There are, on average, 17bp between the -10 and -35 sites and 7bp between the -10 site and the transcriptional start site <cite>pribnow</cite><cite>harley</cite><cite>lisser1</cite><cite>lisser2</cite>.]]
 
[[Image:PromoterIconBC.png|thumb|right|400px|The regsitry symbol for a promoter is shown above a typical sequence for a bacterial promoter.  The lavender shaded boxes indicate the two most conserved regions of a bacterial promoter and are located at -10 and -35 bases from the transcriptional start site (shaded in green).  There are, on average, 17bp between the -10 and -35 sites and 7bp between the -10 site and the transcriptional start site <cite>pribnow</cite><cite>harley</cite><cite>lisser1</cite><cite>lisser2</cite>.]]
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A promoter is a DNA sequence that tends to recruit transcriptional machinery and lead to transcription of the downstream DNA sequence.  The specific sequence of the promoter determines the binding affinity of the transcriptional machinery for the promoter and how likely the transcriptional machinery is to  initiate transcription after being recruited to the DNA.  A "strong" promoter is one that leads to a high rate of transcription initiation, while a "weak" promoter leads to a low rate of transcription initiation.
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A promoter is a DNA sequence that can recruit transcriptional machinery and lead to transcription of the downstream DNA sequence.  The specific sequence of the promoter determines the strength of the promoter (where a strong promoter is one that leads to a high rate of transcription initiation ).
  
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In addition to sequences that "promote" transcription, a promoter may include additional sequences known as operators that control the strength of the promoter.  For example, a promoter may include a binding site for a protein that either attracts or obstructs the transcriptional machinery from binding to the promoter.  The presence or absence of the protein will affect the strength of the promoter.  Such a promoter is known as a regulated promoter.
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In addition to sequences that "promote" transcription, a promoter may include additional sequences known as operators that control the strength of the promoter.  For example, a promoter may include a binding site for a protein that attracts or obstructs the RNAP binding to the promoter.  The presence or absence of the protein will affect the strength of the promoter.  Such a promoter is known as a regulated promoter.

Revision as of 03:15, 17 May 2009

The regsitry symbol for a promoter is shown above a typical sequence for a bacterial promoter. The lavender shaded boxes indicate the two most conserved regions of a bacterial promoter and are located at -10 and -35 bases from the transcriptional start site (shaded in green). There are, on average, 17bp between the -10 and -35 sites and 7bp between the -10 site and the transcriptional start site pribnowharleylisser1lisser2.

A promoter is a DNA sequence that can recruit transcriptional machinery and lead to transcription of the downstream DNA sequence. The specific sequence of the promoter determines the strength of the promoter (where a strong promoter is one that leads to a high rate of transcription initiation ).

In addition to sequences that "promote" transcription, a promoter may include additional sequences known as operators that control the strength of the promoter. For example, a promoter may include a binding site for a protein that attracts or obstructs the RNAP binding to the promoter. The presence or absence of the protein will affect the strength of the promoter. Such a promoter is known as a regulated promoter.