Gene regulation through chromatin remodelling by members of the nuclear receptor superfamily

The intracellular receptors for steroid hormones, thyroid hormones, retinoids and vitamin D-3 are known to bind to specific DNA elements and thus regulate target gene expression. This introductory review and the following papers address some of the mechanisms underlying this action. In particular, the ability of this family of transcription factors to recruit multi-protein complexes that have the capacity to remodel chromatin structure in order to silence or activate target gene expression is discussed.