Our evolving knowledge of the transcriptional landscape.

The development of a genome-scale approach to identification of the 5' ends of capped mRNAs (CAGE) has given new insights into many aspects of mammalian RNApolII transcription control. They include the identification of the minimal initiator motif, the different types of proximal promoter architecture, the promoters of noncoding RNAs, the transcription of retrotransposons, and the extensive impact of alternative promoters on the proteome. CAGE also offers applications as a form of expression profiling that measures promoter use, allowing more precise development of transcriptional network models.