Pribnow box

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Pribnow box (minus 10 sequence) A consensus sequence of nucleotides – TATAAT – occurring in the promoter region of prokaryote genes about 10 nucleotides before the start of transcription. The predominance of adenine and thymine bases means that hydrogen bonding between the two DNA strands in this region is relatively weak, enabling the strands to be separated more easily to permit transcription by RNA polymerase. See also TATA box.