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**Chapter 10**

**Abstract**

cold stress, oxidative stress

various stresses are also mentioned here [3].

**1. Introduction**

Cys2His2 Zinc Finger Proteins

against Stress Conditions

*Kemal Yuce and Ahmet Ismail Ozkan*

Boost Survival Ability of Plants

Zinc finger (ZnF) proteins are the largest transcription factors family. They constitute of nine sub-groups including Cys2His2, Cys3His, Cys3HisCys4, Cys2HisCys5, Cys4HisCys3, Cys2HisCys, Cys4, Cys6 and Cys8. ZnFs perform tasks of recognizing DNA, packaging RNA, transcriptional activity, regulating apoptosis, folding and collecting proteins, and binding lipids. One of the largest sub-groups of these proteins is ZF-Cys2His2, containing SIZ1, ZAT, ZAT7, ZFP1, ZFP252, DST, ZFP1, SIZF3, ZFP179, ZjZFN1, SICZFP1, and ZF-Cys2His2 proteins are found in plants tissues and fulfill important tasks in their defense to struggle with biotic and abiotic stresses (i.e., salt, drought, cold, oxidative). The aim of this chapter is to reveal

importance of ZF-Cys2His2 proteins against various stress conditions.

**Keywords:** Cys2His2 Zinc finger proteins, plant stress physiology, salinity stress,

Cys2His2 zinc finger (ZF-Cys2His2) proteins have been found in a number of plants including *Arabidopsis*, cotton, rice and wheat. The ZF-Cys2His2 is built by two Cys and two His residues. This structure provides a conservative motif together with Zn2+. The core has an -helix and an anti-parallel double-stranded -sheet so that the ZF-Cys2His2 proteins have stable and relatively independent protein domains. ZF-Cys2His2 proteins form a relatively wide family of transcriptional factors in plants. Current studies have revealed that ZF-Cys2His2 proteins operate as important transcriptional regulators in plant responses to a large broad of stress conditions (like drought, excessive light, extreme temperatures, oxidative stress, salinity, and silique shattering) [1]. Over-expression of some ZF-Cys2His2 genes has led to an increased tolerance to various stresses and activation of some stressrelated genes [2]. Abscisic acid (ABA) is an important phytohormone involved in regulating stress responses and plant growth and development. In addition, ABA is involved in many important processes of plants such as stomatal closure, leaf senescence, cuticle wax accumulation, bud dormancy, osmotic regulation, seed germination and growth inhibition. Since the ABA regulates downstream responses to biotic and abiotic environmental changes through both transcriptional and post-transcription mechanisms, the responses of ABA and ZF-Cys2His2 proteins to

### **Chapter 10**
