Hormone-activated estrogen receptors in annelid invertebrates: implications for evolution and endocrine disruption.

ABSTRACT: As the primary mediators of estrogen signaling in vertebrates, estrogen receptors (ERs) play crucial roles in reproduction, development, and behavior. They are also the major mediators of endocrine disruption by xenobiotic pollutants that mimic or block estrogen action. ERs that are sensitive to estrogen and endocrine disrupters have long been thought to be restricted to vertebrates: although there is evidence for estrogen signaling in invertebrates, the only ERs studied to date, from mollusks and cephalochordates, have been insensitive to estrogen and therefore incapable of mediating estrogen signaling or disruption. To determine whether estrogen sensitivity is ancestral or a unique characteristic of vertebrate ERs, we isolated and characterized ERs from two annelids, Platynereis dumerili

SUBMITTER: Keay J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2659264 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature