biostudies-literatureWenck BRDirectorate for Biological SciencesNational Institute of General Medical SciencesNIGMS NIH HHS199-210https://www.ebi.ac.uk/biostudies/studies/S-EPMC7714419biostudies-literatureUnknown11(5)Increasingly sophisticated biochemical and genetic techniques are unraveling the regulatory factors and mechanisms that control gene expression in the Archaea. While some similarities in regulatory strategies are universal, archaeal-specific regulatory strategies are emerging to complement a complex patchwork of shared archaeal-bacterial and archaeal-eukaryotic regulatory mechanisms employed in the archaeal domain. The prokaryotic archaea encode core transcription components with homology to the eukaryotic transcription apparatus and also share a simplified eukaryotic-like initiation mechanism, but also deploy tactics common to bacterial systems to regulate promoter usage and influence elongation-termination decisions. We review the recently established complete archaeal transcription cyclTranscriptionArchaeal transcription.PMC7714419GM100329R01 GM1003291450032Santangelo TJWenck BRfalseArchaeal transcription.Increasingly sophisticated biochemical and genetic techniques are unraveling the regulatory factors and mechanisms that control gene expression in the Archaea. While some similarities in regulatory strategies are universal, archaeal-specific regulatory strategies are emerging to complement a complex patchwork of shared archaeal-bacterial and archaeal-eukaryotic regulatory mechanisms employed in the archaeal domain. The prokaryotic archaea encode core transcription components with homology to the eukaryotic transcription apparatus and also share a simplified eukaryotic-like initiation mechanism, but also deploy tactics common to bacterial systems to regulate promoter usage and influence elongation-termination decisions. We review the recently established complete archaeal transcription cycl2020-01-01T00:00:00Z2020 Oct2025-04-04T14:15:10.436Z2025-02-19T00:03:26.929ZS-EPMC77144193311272910.1080/21541264.2020.1838865