Progress in HD-Zip Transcription Factors of Plant

Yong-Fang Qin, Deng-Di Li, Xue-Bao Li ^*

Hubei Key Laboratory of Genetic Regulation and Integrative Biology, College of Life Sciences, Huazhong Normal University, Wuhan 430079, China

Abstract: Homeodomain-leucine zipper (HD-Zip) proteins， which display the singular combination of a highly conserved homeodomain and a leucine zipper acting as a dimerization motif， are transcription factors unique to plants. They are involved in a large number of processes (such as vascular development， organ formation， meristem maintenance， stress response， etc) in plants. Based on their four distinguishing characteristics (DNA-binding specificities， gene structures， additional conserved motifs and functions)， HD-Zip family can be divided into four subfamilies. In this review， recent progress in studying the function of HD-zip proteins was summarized.

CSTR: 32200.14.cjcb.2009.04.0010