Roger Kornberg, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2006, has provided a detailed description of eukaryotic transcription in the past decade.  Crystal structures of RNA polymerase II and associated transcription factors produced over the last six years have led to great insights into a very complex cellular process.  In particular, the regulation of eukaryotic gene transcription, which is much more complicated than in prokaryotes, has seen major advances as a result of this work.  The association of transcription factors with promoter regions and of the mediator complex with enhancers has helped with the understanding of the initiation process.  The highly detailed structure reports of RNA polymerase have led to an understanding of each step of the transcription process at an atomic level.  This work will lead to further advancements in many fields of biology such as stem cell research.

            This website explores the detailed process of eukaryotic gene transcription, with a comparison to the prokaryotic system as well as a study of the effects of α-amanitin on transcription and a look at future research that is made possible by this work.