Protein evolution by molecular tinkering: diversification of the nuclear receptor superfamily from a ligand-dependent ancestor.

ABSTRACT: Understanding how protein structures and functions have diversified is a central goal in molecular evolution. Surveys of very divergent proteins from model organisms, however, are often insufficient to determine the features of ancestral proteins and to reveal the evolutionary events that yielded extant diversity. Here we combine genomic, biochemical, functional, structural, and phylogenetic analyses to reconstruct the early evolution of nuclear receptors (NRs), a diverse superfamily of transcriptional regulators that play key roles in animal development, physiology, and reproduction. By inferring the structure and functions of the ancestral NR, we show--contrary to current belief--that NRs evolved from a ligand-activated ancestral receptor that existed near the base of the Metazoa, with f

SUBMITTER: Bridgham JT 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2950128 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature