What do "zinc fingers" do?
by 
Erin Albrecht
ANSWERS: 1
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"Zinc fingers" are small, common protein motifs (that is, they are three-dimensional structures that show up as distinct parts of the full 3D shape of the proteins, part but not all of the full, final shape). For a standard, stylized picture, see the Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zinc_finger. They show up in a wide variety of proteins, and their function is pretty much the same: they fold around one or more zinc ions, binding the protein in which they are contained to the ion. Zinc finger proteins serve a variety of (mostly regulatory) functions in eukaryotic cells, including binding to DNA to regulate transcription, and regulating some protein:protein and protein:lipid interactions.
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