title: Evolution of retinoic acid receptors and retinoic acid signaling.
abstract: Retinoic acid (RA) is a vitamin A-derived morphogen controlling important developmental processes in vertebrates, and more generally in chordates, including axial patterning and tissue formation and differentiation. In the embryo, endogenous RA levels are controlled by RA synthesizing and degrading enzymes and the RA signal is transduced by two retinoid receptors: the retinoic acid receptor (RAR) and the retinoid X receptor (RXR). Both RAR and RXR are members of the nuclear receptor superfamily of ligand-activated transcription factors and mainly act as heterodimers to activate the transcription of target genes in the presence of their ligand, all-trans RA. This signaling pathway was long thought to be a chordate innovation, however, recent findings of gene homologs involved in RA signaling in the genomes of a wide variety of non-chordate animals, including ambulacrarians (sea urchins and acorn worms) and lophotrochozoans (annelids and mollusks), challenged this traditional view and suggested that the RA signaling pathway might have a more ancient evolutionary origin than previously thought. In this chapter, we discuss the evolutionary history of the RA signaling pathway, and more particularly of the RARs, which might have experienced independent gene losses and duplications in different animal lineages. In sum, the available data reveal novel insights into the origin of the RA signaling pathway as well as into the evolutionary history of the RARs.
authors: Molecular Zoology Team, Institut de Génomique Fonctionnelle de Lyon, Université de Lyon, Université Lyon 1, CNRS, INRA, Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon, 46 allée d'Italie, 69364, Lyon Cedex 07, France, juliana.gutierrez_mazariegos@ens-lyon.fr.
authors: Juliana
authors: J
authors: Gutierrez-Mazariegos
authors: Michael
authors: M
authors: Schubert
authors: Vincent
authors: V
authors: Laudet
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005075:Biological Evolution; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D006801:Humans; D008024:Ligands; D010802:Phylogeny; D011485:Protein Binding; D020033:Protein Isoforms / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D055503:Protein Multimerization; D017434:Protein Structure, Tertiary; D018168:Receptors, Retinoic Acid / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D047488:Retinoid X Receptors / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D015398:Signal Transduction; D014212:Tretinoin / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D008024:Ligands; D020033:Protein Isoforms; D018168:Receptors, Retinoic Acid; D047488:Retinoid X Receptors; D014212:Tretinoin