Question

What are zinc fingers, and why are they frequently encountered in descriptions of genetic regulation in eukaryotes?

Answer 1

Answer:

A zinc finger is also known as zinc-binding repeats or ZnF that are molecular scaffold which is characterized by the coordination of Zn²⁺ ions so it can stabilize the fold.

The zinc fingers consist of several amino acid sequence 2 histidine and 2 cysteine residues at intervals. These residues bind to the zinc atom covalently and form finger-like motifs.

They are a major family of eukaryotic transcription factors. These are identified in a significant regulatory state such as developmental control genes and proto-oncogene by binding to the DNA, RNA, or protein.