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Evolving Story of a Resurrected Protein

Caption: Structural evolution of an ancient hormone receptor. The ancient progenitors of modern-day glucocorticoid receptors were resurrected and structurally analyzed using X-ray crystallography. The most ancient receptors (blue and green, 470-440 million years ago) are activated by several hormones. By 410 million years ago, the receptor (orange) had evolved specificity for cortisol (purple) like that of the human GR, due to specific changes in protein architecture. This image relates to an article that appeared in the Aug. 17, 2007, issue of the journal Science, published by AAAS. The study, by Dr. Eric Ortlund and colleagues of the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, N.C., was titled "Crystal Structure of an Ancient Protein: Evolution by Conformational Epistasis."

Credit: Photo provided by E. Ortlund, via Science-AAAS.

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