Rel/NF-kappa B/I kappa B family: intimate tales of association and dissociation.

The growth, differentiation, and development of an organism is orchestrated by the choreographed expression of a wide array of genes. The switching "on" and "off" of gene expression is the province of transcription factors, which operate singly or in association with other proteins. Usually transcription factors form families, whereas individual members perform specific, distinct, or similar tasks. One such family includes the R ~~/ N F -K B proteins (NF-KB), which have the unique property of being sequestered in the cytoplasm in association with inhibitory proteins called IKB.