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Transcriptional activation of nuclear estrogen receptor and progesterone receptor and its regulation

XIN Qi-Liang, QIU Jing-Tao, CUI Sheng, XIA Guo-Liang, WANG Hai-Bin

State Key Laboratory for Agro-biotechnology, College of Biological Sciences, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China； State Key Laboratory of Stem Cell and Reproductive Biology, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China

Abstract

Estrogen receptor (ER) and progesterone receptor (PR) are two important members of steroid receptors family, an evolutionarily conserved family of transcription factors. Upon binding to their ligands, ER and PR enter cell nucleus to interact with specific DNA element in the context of chromatin to initiate the transcription of diverse target genes, which largely depends on the timely recruitment of a wide range of cofactors. Moreover, the interactions between steroid hormones and their respective receptors also trigger post-translational modifications on these receptors to fine-tune their transcriptional activities. Besides the well-known phosphorylation modifications on tyrosine and serine/threonine residues, recent studies have identified several other covalent modifications, such as ubiquitylation and sumoylation. These post-translational modifications of steroid receptors affect its stability, subcellular localization, and/or cofactor recruitment; eventually influence the duration and extent of transcriptional activation. This review is to focus on the recent research progress on the transcriptional activation of nuclear ER and PR as well as their physiological functions in early pregnancy, which may help us to better understand related female reproductive diseases.

Key words: Estrogen receptor; progesterone receptor; post-translational modifications; transcriptional activation; cofactors; early pregnancy

Received: 2016-02-02　　Accepted: 2016-06-08

Corresponding author: 王海滨　　E-mail: haibin.wang@vip.163.com

Citing This Article：

XIN Qi-Liang, QIU Jing-Tao, CUI Sheng, XIA Guo-Liang, WANG Hai-Bin. Transcriptional activation of nuclear estrogen receptor and progesterone receptor and its regulation. Acta Physiol Sin 2016; 68 (4): 435-454 (in Chinese with English abstract).