ABSTRACT

Regulation of gene expression by transcription factors is a central mechanism utilized among organisms and relies on interactions between sequence-specific DNA-binding proteins with cis-elements located in the promoter and enhancer regions of the corresponding genes. In plants, a large number of transcription factors has been identified the past years, with some of them exhibiting structural features unique to plant transcription factors. Among the eleven or more families of plant transcription factors reported in a classification based on structural motifs, the AP2/EREBP family is relatively new. In this review we summarize the current knowledge on the AP2/EREBP family of plant transcription factors stretching out putative ways of their mode of regulation and function.