What is a tata box?

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The TATA box is a name given to a sequence with a bunch of Adenines and Thymines often found in the promoter sequence of a gene.  In case you don't know, a promoter is the sequence of A's, T's, G's, and C's that indicate to enzymes where a particular gene begins in a molecule of DNA.  There's another common sequence called the CAAT box because it has a bunch of C's, A's and T's.  The analogy I often use is that promoter sequences are like the headings, etc that you'll find at the beginning of every chapter in your textbook.  Every chapter has a unique title (say Chapter 5:  Parts of the cell, or Chapter 20: Evolution), but they'll share common characteristics to make it easier for you to find where they begin. Similarly, promoter sequences often have sequences of nucleotides that are similar to other promoters, but slight differences indicate the different types of genes. Sequences like TATAAA (the TATA box) or GG_CAATCT (the CAAT box) often are binding points for transcription enzymes