GO:0008270
— Molecular Function — zinc ion binding
GO:0044212
— Molecular Function — transcription regulatory region DNA binding
Family Introduction
CO(CONSTANS) gene acts between the circadian clock and genes controlling meristem identity.In Arabidopsis, CO transcription factors defined by two conserved domains. The first is a zinc finger region near the amino terminus that resembles B-boxes, which regulate protein-protein interactions in several animal transcription factors. The second is a region of 43 amino acids near the carboxy terminus termed the CCT (CO, CO-like, TOC1) domain. Studies using green fluorescent protein fusions show that the CCT domain is involved in nuclear localization of the CO protein but must have an additional role because the late-flowering co-7 mutant, which has an altered CCT domain, correctly localizes the protein.
