Hormone Regulation of CCCH Zinc Finger Proteins in Plants

CCCH zinc finger proteins contain one to six tandem CCCH motifs composed of three cysteine and one histidine residues and have been widely found in eukaryotes. Plant CCCH proteins control a wide range of developmental and adaptive processes through DNA-protein, RNA-protein and/or protein-protein interactions. The complex networks underlying these processes regulated by plant CCCH proteins are often involved in phytohormones as signal molecules. In this review, we described the evolution of CCCH proteins from green algae to vascular plants and summarized the functions of plant CCCH proteins that are influenced by six major hormones, including abscisic acid, gibberellic acid, brassinosteroid, jasmonate, ethylene and auxin. We further compared the regulatory mechanisms of plant and animal CCCH proteins via hormone signaling. Among them, Arabidopsis AtC3H14, 15 and human hTTP, three typical CCCH proteins, are able to integrate multiple hormones to participate in various biological processes.