In: Biology
Nuclear receptors carry a binding site for a signal molecule and for a DNA sequence. How is it that identical nuclear receptors in different cells can activate different genes when they bind to the same signal molecule?
Nuclear receptors (NR)are present in the cytoplasm and bind to steroid hormones. Upon dimerization (joining of two NR), the receptor gets activated and lead to cellular response by:
This means that the nuclear receptors are subject to different internal processing upon binding of the same ligand in different cells.
Hence, in essence, the nuclear receptors act as transcription factors that may interact with other transcription factors or bind directly to DNA response element.
Due to this difference in internal machinery of different cells to process nuclear receptors upon activation, the identical nuclear receptors in different cells can activate different genes when they bind to the same signal molecule.