Crystal structure of a tandem B-box domain from Arabidopsis CONSTANS

Abstract

CONSTANS is a central protein in the regulation of photoperiodic flowering, which is expressed in response to day length and promotes the expression of Flowering Locus T. The tandem B-box domain in CONSTANS mediates interactions with various proteins to regulate the expression of Flowering Locus T. Although most plants, including Arabidopsis, have multiple B-box proteins, their B-box structures have not been elucidated. Here, we report the crystal structure of a tandem B-box domain from Arabidopsis CONSTANS. The crystal structure shows that each B-box adopts a canonical B-box fold and coordinates two zinc atoms. Furthermore, the crystal structure reveals that the B-box domain has a unique structure that distinguishes it from animal B-boxes at the monomer and dimer level.