What is a promoter in biology?

A promoter is a sequence of DNA that serves as a kind of switch that turns a gene on or off.

DNA contains the information necessary to create the different parts of any biological organism. However, cells do not need to use all of this information at the same time. They use bits of information as and when they need it to create a specific part. Promoters help initiate the process of transcription by prompting the RNA polymerase enzyme and transcription factors to bond to the DNA when necessary. Promoters do not encode information about the organism itself. They just serve to initiate the biological process of transcription.