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.
Read more about this topic: Zinc Finger Protein
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