The molecular function and regulation of Class II TCP transcription factors

TCP transcription factors are a class of plant-specific transcription factors. They extensively participate in developmental processes in multiple stages of various plant species. Among them, Class II TCP subfamily plays pivotal roles in control of leaf development, shoot branch formation and flower organ development. The activity of Class II TCP is tightly regulated at both transcriptional and post-transcriptional levels. They regulate the expression of downstream genes by directly binding to promoters, enhancers, and modifying chromatin structure. These mechanisms make TCP elegantly regulate plant development at specific stages during plant development. This review mainly summarized recent progress with regard to the molecular functions and regulation networks of Class II TCPs, and we try to provide the recent understanding of TCP function in integrating the environmental conditions and internal signals to control plant developmental plasticity.