Ethylene binds to it specific transmembrane receptor present on the cell membrane of endoplasmic reticulum. There are different ethylene receptor isoforms. Five isoforms are known in Arabidopsis thaliana which are named ethylene response/receptor 1 (ETR1), ethylene response sensor 1 (ERS1), ETR2, ERS2, and ethylene insensitive 4 (EIN4). The ETR1 is similar (conserved sequence) in different plants but with slight amino acid differences. A. thaliana receptors are classified into two subfamilies based on genetic relationship and common structural features, namely subfamily 1 that includes ETR1 and ERS1, and subfamily 2 that consists of ETR2, ERS2, and EIN4. In tomato there are seven types of ethylene receptors named SlETR1, SlETR2, SlETR3, SlETR4, SlETR5, SlETR6, and SlETR7 (Sl for Solanum lycopersicum, the scientific of tomato).
All ethylene receptors have similar organisation: a short N-terminal domain, three conserved transmembrane domains towards the N-terminus, followed by a GAF domain of unknown function, and then signal output motifs in the C-terminal region.  The N-terminus is exposed on the lumen of the endoplasmic reticulum, and the C-terminus that is exposed to the cytoplasm of the cell. The N-terminus contains the sites for binding of ethylene, dimerization and membrane localization. Two similar receptors combine to form a homodimer through a disulfide bridge forming a cysteine-cysteine interaction.  However, the main membrane localization is done by the transmembrane domain, which can also bind ethylene with the help of copper as a cofactor. Copper ion is supplied by a transmembrane protein responsive-to-antagonist 1 (RAN1) from antioxidant protein 1 (ATX1) via tiplin, or directly by copper transport protein.
Although the receptors are functionally active as dimers, only one copper ion binds to such dimer, indicating that one receptor dimer binds only one ethylene molecule. Mutations in the binding sites stop ethylene binding and also make plants insensitive to ethylene. Cys-65 in the protein helix 2 is particularly important as the binding site of copper ion as mutation in it stops copper and ethylene binding. The C-terminus is basically a bacterial two-component system with kinase activity and response regulator. ETR1 has histidine kinase activity, whereas ETR2, ERS2, and EIN4 have serine/threonine kinase activity, and ERS1 has both. The histidine kinase in ETR1 is not required for ethylene signaling.