C.K. Glass, S.M. Lipkin, O.V. Devary, M.G. Rosenfeld, "Positive and negative regulation of gene transcription by a retinoic acid-thyroid hormone receptor heterodimer," Cell, 59, 697-708, 17 November 1989.
Christopher K. Glass (School of Medicine, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla): "Retinoic acid receptors appear to exert profound effects on vertebrate development by binding to target genes and altering the rates at which they are transcribed in response to retinoic acid. Because the effects of retinoic acid are strikingly different in, for example, the limb versus the central nervous system, retinoic acid receptors must be capable of recognizing different target genes in different cell types.
"What mechanisms might regulate target gene selection? In this paper, we present evidence that the DNA binding and transcriptional activation properties of the retinoic acid receptor are modified by its ability to form a heterodimer with a closely related transcription factor, the thyroid hormone receptor. ...