AP2 (APETALA2) and EREBPs (ethylene-responsive element binding proteins) are the prototypic members of a family of transcription factors unique to plants, whose distinguishing characteristic is that they contain the so-called AP2 DNA-binding domain. AP2/ REBP genes form a large multigene family, and they play a variety of roles throughout the plant life cycle: from being key regulators of several developmental processes, like floral organ identity determination or control of leaf epidermal cell identity, to forming part of the mechanisms used by plants to respond to various types of biotic and environmental stress.These proteins contain either one (EREBP subfamily) or two (AP2 subfamily) copies of an approximately 70 amino acid domain termed the AP2 repeat because of its initial description in the floral homeotic protein APETALA2 (AP2). The first class are proteins which bind to ethylene response elements (ERE) or GCC boxes (tobacco EREBPs, Arabidopsis AtEBP and AtERF1-5, and tomato Pti4-6) found in the promoters of ethylene-inducible pathogenesis related genes.