title: Transcription: why are TAFs essential?
abstract: The TAFs are transcription factors associated with the TATA-binding protein, and until recently they were assumed to link specific activators to the general transcription machinery. Recent results suggest that the essential functions of TAFs are not as coactivators of transcription but as determinants of promoter selectivity.
authors.affiliation: Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, Piscataway, New Jersey 08854, USA.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hampsey
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Reinberg
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins / Q000502:physiology; D051548:Histone Acetyltransferases; D006801:Humans; D009687:Nuclear Proteins / Q000502:physiology; D035381:TATA-Binding Protein Associated Factors; D035181:TATA-Box Binding Protein; D035362:Transcription Factor TFIID; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000502:physiology*; D019473:Transcription Factors, TFII / Q000502:physiology; D014158:Transcription, Genetic / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D009687:Nuclear Proteins; D035381:TATA-Binding Protein Associated Factors; D035181:TATA-Box Binding Protein; D035362:Transcription Factor TFIID; D014157:Transcription Factors; D019473:Transcription Factors, TFII; D051548:Histone Acetyltransferases; C069001:TATA-binding protein associated factor 250 kDa