bZIP Transcription Factor Family
Basic region/leucine zipper (bZIP) transcription factors play roles in a large number of biological processes and bZIP genes
appear to be present in all eukaryotes . bZIP proteins are defined by the basic region/leucine zipper motif, with the basic
region being responsible for DNA binding and the leucine zipper for dimerisation. The bZIP domain contains these two
structural features on a contiguous ?-helix with the basic region of about 16 amino acids containing a nuclear localization
signal followed by an invariant N-X7-R/K motif that contacts the DNA. The leucine zipper contains a heptad repeat of
leucines or other bulky hydrophobic amino acids that creates an amphipathic helix and two of these zipper motifs adhere and
create a coiled coil structure . Leucine zippers are also found in a number of other transcription factors such as WRKY
transcription factors .
bZIP genes in plants have been implicated in regulating important processes such as defence against pathogens, light and
stress signaling, seed maturation and flower development . The 75 bZIP genes that have been identified in the Arabidopsis
genome have been divided into 10 groups based on the sequence of the basic region and additional conserved motifs . This
classification was not based purely on phylogeny and emphasized conserved motifs outside of the bZIP domain.
Cormack, R.S., Eulgem, T., Rushton, P.J., Kochner, P., Hahlbrock, K., and Somssich, I.E. Leucine zipper-containing WRKY
proteins widen the spectrum of immediate early elicitor-induced WRKY transcription factors in parsley. Biochimica Et
Biophysica Acta-Gene Structure and Expression 1576: 92-100 2002.
108 predicated putative bZIP TF peptide,
CDS, and cDNA sequences;
blast HSP output, and multiple sequence alignment.
108 bZIP domain peptide sequences with alignment,
and phylogeny tree.
83 bZIP protein
and DNA
sequences with
annotations for soybean in PlantTFDB. Most are partial sequences.
This page was setup on May 27, 2009, last updated by Dr. Jeff Chen on
June 16, 2009.
