Origin of an ancient hormone/receptor couple revealed by resurrection of an ancestral estrogen.
Fiche publication
Date publication
mars 2017
Journal
Science advances
Auteurs
Membres identifiés du Cancéropôle Est :
Dr MORAS Dino, Dr BILLAS Isabelle
Tous les auteurs :
Markov GV, Gutierrez-Mazariegos J, Pitrat D, Billas IML, Bonneton F, Moras D, Hasserodt J, Lecointre G, Laudet V
Lien Pubmed
Résumé
The origin of ancient ligand/receptor couples is often analyzed via reconstruction of ancient receptors and, when ligands are products of metabolic pathways, they are not supposed to evolve. However, because metabolic pathways are inherited by descent with modification, their structure can be compared using cladistic analysis. Using this approach, we studied the evolution of steroid hormones. We show that side-chain cleavage is common to most vertebrate steroids, whereas aromatization was co-opted for estrogen synthesis from a more ancient pathway. The ancestral products of aromatic activity were aromatized steroids with a side chain, which we named "paraestrols." We synthesized paraestrol A and show that it effectively binds and activates the ancestral steroid receptor. Our study opens the way to comparative studies of biologically active small molecules.
Mots clés
Evolution, cladistics, estrogens, ligands, metabolic pathways, nuclear hormone receptors, steroid hormones
Référence
Sci Adv. 2017 Mar;3(3):e1601778