NUCLEAR FACTOR-Y: still complex after all these years?

• Published in: Current opinion in plant biology 2018-10, Vol.45 (Pt A), p.96-102
• Main Authors: Myers, Zachary A, Holt, Ben F
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 1369-5266; 1879-0356
• DOI: 10.1016/j.pbi.2018.05.015

•NUCLEAR FACTOR Y (NF-Y) are transcription factors found in all eukaryotes.•There are three unique NF-Y families—NF-YA, NF-YB, and NF-YC.•NF-Y functions as an NF-YA/B/C heterotrimer to bind CCAAT sequences.•NF-Y complexes regulate developmental and hormone signaling pathways.•The NF-YA subunit can be replaced by CCT proteins to form non-canonical complexes that bind altered DNA consensus sequences. The NUCLEAR FACTOR-Y (NF-Y) families of transcription factors are important regulators of plant development and physiology. Though NF-Y regulatory roles have recently been suggested for numerous aspects of plant biology, their roles in flowering time, early seedling development, stress responses, hormone signaling, and nodulation are the best characterized. The past few years have also seen significant advances in our understanding of the mechanistic function of the NF-Y, and as such, increasingly complex and interesting questions are now more approachable. This review will primarily focus on these developmental, physiological, and mechanistic roles of the NF-Y in recent research.