Fig. 1.

General scheme of a TF binding to DNA. A specific binding site (e.g. a promoter) of arbitrary state structure is embedded in a pool of unspecific binding sites. Drawn is a simple promoter consisting of the target site and surrounding unspecific DNA sequences. Depending on the respective binding times, the TF distributes between the nucleoplasm, unspecific sites and the promoter. If unspecific binding is favored, both the search time and promoter occupancy decrease.