RNA聚合酶II（Pol II）核心启动子是位于蛋白质编码和非编码基因转录起始位点的特殊DNA序列，可支持转录机制的组装和转录起始。它们通过选择性整合来自远端增强子及其相关调节蛋白的调节信号，使基因的转录高度受控。在这篇综述中，我们讨论了基因核心启动子的定义特性，包括其序列特征，染色质结构和转录起始模式。我们概述了核心启动子的功能和调控及其新兴功能多样性（定义了不同的转录程序）的分子机制。根据基因核心启动子的既定特性，我们讨论了增强子内的转录起始位点，并整合了从专用功能分析中获得的最新结果，以提出转录起始的功能模型。该模型可以解释基因启动子和增强子上转录起始的性质和功能，还可以解释核心启动子，Pol II及其相关因子以及增强子及其所募集的转录因子和辅因子提供的激活线索的不同作用。 。

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RNA polymerase II (Pol II) core promoters are specialized DNA sequences at transcription start sites of protein-coding and non-coding genes that support the assembly of the transcription machinery and transcription initiation. They enable the highly regulated transcription of genes by selectively integrating regulatory cues from distal enhancers and their associated regulatory proteins. In this Review, we discuss the defining properties of gene core promoters, including their sequence features, chromatin architecture and transcription initiation patterns. We provide an overview of molecular mechanisms underlying the function and regulation of core promoters and their emerging functional diversity, which defines distinct transcription programmes. On the basis of the established properties of gene core promoters, we discuss transcription start sites within enhancers and integrate recent results obtained from dedicated functional assays to propose a functional model of transcription initiation. This model can explain the nature and function of transcription initiation at gene starts and at enhancers and can explain the different roles of core promoters, of Pol II and its associated factors and of the activating cues provided by enhancers and the transcription factors and cofactors they recruit.