History
Zinc fingers were first identified in a study of transcription in the African clawed frog, Xenopus laevis. A study of the transcription of a particular RNA sequence revealed that the binding strength of a small transcription factor (transcription factor IIIA) was due to the presence of zinc-coordinating finger-like structures. The name "zinc finger" was proposed in the subsequent paper, in which a detailed study of this structure alone was conducted. More recent work in the characterization of proteins in various organisms has revealed the ubiquity of zinc ions in polypeptide stabilization.
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