Plant-TFClass: a structural classification for plant transcription factors.

Transcription factors (TFs) bind DNA at specific sequences to regulate gene expression. This universal process is achieved via their DNA-binding domain (DBD). In mammals, the vast diversity of DBD structural conformations and the way in which they contact DNA has been used to organize TFs in the TFClass hierarchical classification.

The F-box protein UFO controls flower development by redirecting the master transcription factor LEAFY to new cis-elements.

In angiosperms, flower development requires the combined action of the transcription factor LEAFY (LFY) and the ubiquitin ligase adaptor F-box protein, UNUSUAL FLORAL ORGANS (UFO), but the molecular mechanism underlying this synergy has remained unknown. Here we show in transient assays and stable transgenic plants that the connection to ubiquitination pathways suggested by the UFO F-box domain is mostly dispensable. On the basis of biochemical and genome-wide studies, we establish that UFO instead acts by forming an active transcriptional complex with LFY at newly discovered regulatory elements.

JASPAR 2022: the 9th release of the open-access database of transcription factor binding profiles.

JASPAR (http://jaspar.genereg.net/) is an open-access database containing manually curated, non-redundant transcription factor (TF) binding profiles for TFs across six taxonomic groups.

The LEAFY floral regulator displays pioneer transcription factor properties.

Pioneer transcription factors (TFs) are a special category of TFs with the capacity to bind to closed chromatin regions in which DNA is wrapped around histones and may be highly methylated. Subsequently, pioneer TFs are able to modify the chromatin state to initiate gene expression. In plants, LEAFY (LFY) is a master floral regulator and has been suggested to act as a pioneer TF in Arabidopsis.