Characteristics and Functions of NAC Transcription Factors in Plants

The members,structure characteristics and biotic functions of NAC transcription factors were introduced and analyzed.NAC proteins,which distribute widely in many land plant species,constitute one of the largest families of plant-specific transcription factors.The NAC family members have a conservative NAC domain in N-terminal ends with about 150 amino acids including five subdomains of A,B,C,D and E and a highly various transcriptional activation domain in C-terminal ends.The structure of NAC proteins is related to specific biotic functions,and the NAC transcription factors are involved in various aspects,such as plant secondary growth,cell division and plant senesce,hormones regulation and signal transduction,mineral element nutrition and improvement of crop quality.Meanwhile,NACs participate in plant defense responses during biotic and abiotic stress process.The studies have been focused on the model plants Arabidopisis thaliana and Oryza sativa,and little is known about regulation route and composition of NACs factors.Therefore it is necessary to have an in-depth study to understand the gene functions of NACs.Nevertheless,they have been used in plant molecular breeding by genetic engineering for crop genetic improvement.Fig 2,Tab 2,Ref 87