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Eukaryotic Transcription Factors Assembling the Initiation Complex

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Eukaryotic transcription factors bind a gene's promoter and assemble a complex that recruits RNA polymerase II, which cannot bind the promoter unassisted.

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Several basal transcription factors bind the TATA box in sequence, each stabilizing the complex before RNA polymerase II joins.

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Prokaryotic RNA polymerase needs only sigma factor to find a promoter — eukaryotic RNA polymerase II needs a whole assembled complex.