DUF581 Is Plant Specific FCS-Like Zinc Finger Involved in Protein-Protein Interaction

<div><p>Zinc fingers are a ubiquitous class of protein domain with considerable variation in structure and function. Zf-FCS is a highly diverged group of C₂-C₂ zinc finger which is present in animals, prokaryotes and viruses, but not in plants. In this study we identified that a plant specific domain of unknown function, DUF581 is a zf-FCS type zinc finger. Based on HMM-HMM comparison and signature motif similarity we named this domain as <u>F</u>CS-<u>L</u>ike <u>Z</u>inc finger (FLZ) domain. A genome wide survey identified that FLZ domain containing genes are bryophytic in origin and this gene family is expanded in spermatophytes. Expression analysis of selected <i>FLZ</i> gene family members of <i>A. thaliana</i> identified an overlapping expression pattern suggesting a possible redundancy in their function. Unlike the zf-FCS domain, the FLZ domain found to be highly conserved in sequence and structure. Using a combination of bioinformatic and protein-protein interaction tools, we identified that FLZ domain is involved in protein-protein interaction.</p>