title: Dueling orphans--interacting nuclear receptors coordinate Drosophila metamorphosis.
abstract: At least seven orphan members of the nuclear receptor superfamily are transcriptionally regulated by the steroid hormone ecdysone and expressed during the onset of Drosophila metamorphosis. A recent paper provides functions for two of these receptors, E75B and DHR3, through trans-regulation and heterodimerization. DHR3 appears to function as a switch that defines the transition from a late larva to a prepupa, and E75B functions as a timer that modulates this transition. This study provides a biological function for orphan receptor interactions during development.
authors.affiliation: Howard Hughes Medical Institute, University of Utah, Salt Lake City 84112, USA. carl.thummel@genetics.utah.edu
authors.forename: C S
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Thummel
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004330:Drosophila / Q000254:growth & development*; D004440:Ecdysone / Q000502:physiology; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; D007814:Larva; D008675:Metamorphosis, Biological; D008954:Models, Biological; D011679:Pupa; D018160:Receptors, Cytoplasmic and Nuclear / Q000502:physiology*; D014714:Vertebrates
chemical_list: D018160:Receptors, Cytoplasmic and Nuclear; D004440:Ecdysone