Fig. 1.
From: Q&A: How do gene regulatory networks control environmental responses in plants?
Plants exposed to stress in the environment elicit changes in the expression of genes mediated by transcription factors (TF). Interactions between TF and their associated cis-regulatory element (CRE) regulate the abundance of RNA expressed from different genes. Combinations of TF–CRE interaction lead to the establishment of gene regulatory networks (GRNs). Variation in the GRN may lead to different responses of the plants to the environmental stress