GENE-REGULATION BY STEROID-HORMONES - VERTEBRATES AND INSECTS

In both vertebrates and insects, steroid hormones are known to control diverse physiological events from reproduction to growth and development, primarily by affecting the expression of specific genes. Despite the vast evolutionary distance between arthropods and vertebrates, the molecular mechanisms by which steroids act to regulate genes appear to be conserved. Our understanding of these principles has been advanced significantly during the past few years, owing to the molecular characterisation of genes which encode steroid hormone receptors. This article provides a general survey of the superfamily of nuclear hormone receptors and their mode of action and summarizes the recent knowledge on members of this superfamily discovered in Drosophila and other insects.