Molecular Zoology Team, Institut de Génomique Fonctionnelle de Lyon, Université de Lyon, Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon, Université Lyon 1, CNRS, INRA, Institut Fédératif 128 Biosciences Gerland Lyon Sud, France.
Mol Cell Endocrinol. 2011 Mar 1;334(1-2):21-30. doi: 10.1016/j.mce.2010.10.017. Epub 2010 Nov 3.
The origin of the ligand-binding ability of nuclear receptors is still a matter of discussion. Current opposing models are the early evolution of an ancestral receptor that would bind a specific ligand with high affinity and the early evolution of an ancestral orphan that was a constitutive transcription factor. Here we review the arguments in favour or against these two hypotheses, and we discuss an alternative possibility that the ancestor was a ligand sensor, which would be able to explain the apparently contradictory data generated in previous models for the evolution of ligand binding in nuclear receptors.
核受体配体结合能力的起源仍然是一个讨论的话题。目前存在两种对立的模型，一种是认为祖先受体的早期进化具有与特定配体高亲和力结合的能力，另一种是认为祖先孤儿受体的早期进化是组成型转录因子。在这里，我们回顾了这两种假说的论据，并讨论了另一种可能性，即祖先受体是一种配体传感器，这将能够解释以前的核受体配体结合进化模型中产生的明显矛盾的数据。
