Recent insights into the structure of TFIID, its assembly, and its binding to core promoter

•TFIID is a general transcription factor for RNA polymerase II and functions in promoter recognition and deposition of TBP•Cryo-EM has revealed the structure and dynamics of human TFIID and suggests a mechanism of TBP deposition onto DNA•The cryo-EM structures of human and yeast TFIID are compared and their differences are discussed in a functional context•The recent structural results suggest a model for the mechanism of TFIID assembly from sub-modules