title: Evolutionary genomics of nuclear receptors: from twenty-five ancestral genes to derived endocrine systems.
abstract: Bilaterian animals are notably characterized by complex endocrine systems. The receptors for many steroids, retinoids, and other hormones belong to the superfamily of nuclear receptors, which are transcription factors regulating many aspects of development and homeostasis. Despite a diversity of regulatory mechanisms and physiological roles, nuclear receptors share a common protein organization. To obtain the broad picture of bilaterian nuclear hormone receptor evolution, we have characterized the complete set of nuclear receptor genes from nine animal genome sequences and analyzed it in a phylogenetic framework. In addition, expressed sequence tags from key lineages with no available genome sequence were also searched. This allows us to date the evolutionary events that led from an ancestral nuclear receptor gene, in an early metazoan, to present day diversity. We show that there were approximately 25 nuclear receptor genes in Urbilateria, the ancestor of bilaterians, at which point the fundamental diversity of the subfamily was already established. Surprisingly, differential gene loss played an important role in the evolution of different nuclear receptor sets in bilaterian lineages. The nuclear receptor distribution was also shaped by periods of gene duplication, essentially in vertebrates, as well as a lineage-specific duplication burst in nematodes. Our results imply that the genes for major receptors such as steroid receptors or thyroid hormone receptors were present in Urbilateria.
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Biologie Moléculaire de la Cellule, Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon, Lyon, France.
authors.forename: Stéphanie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bertrand
authors.forename: Frédéric G
authors.initials: FG
authors.lastname: Brunet
authors.forename: Hector
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Escriva
authors.forename: Gilles
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Parmentier
authors.forename: Vincent
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Laudet
authors.forename: Marc
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Robinson-Rechavi
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004703:Endocrine System; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D005819:Genetic Markers; D007313:Insecta / Q000235:genetics; D016013:Likelihood Functions; D005810:Multigene Family; D009348:Nematoda / Q000235:genetics; D010802:Phylogeny; D018160:Receptors, Cytoplasmic and Nuclear / Q000235:genetics*; D014561:Urochordata / Q000235:genetics; D014714:Vertebrates / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D005819:Genetic Markers; D018160:Receptors, Cytoplasmic and Nuclear