Acting principally to control patterns of gene expression, nuclear receptors play vital roles during embryonic development and in the regulation of metabolic and reproductive functions in adult life, which proves this superfamily of ligand-activated transcription factors to be a crucial part of biological life. In The Nuclear Receptor Superfamily: Methods and Protocols, expert researchers describe a range of molecular, structural and cell biological techniques currently used to investigate the structure-function of nuclear receptors, together with experimental approaches that may lead to new therapeutic strategies for treating nuclear receptor-associated diseases. Written in the highly successful Methods in Molecular Biology(TM) series format, the chapters in this volume contain brief introductions to the topics, lists of the necessary materials and reagents, step-by-step, readily reproducible laboratory protocols, as well as notes from the experts to highlight tips on troubleshooting and avoiding known pitfalls.

Nuclear Receptors: One Big Family.- Ligand Binding and Nuclear Receptor Turnover.- Methods for Measuring Ligand Dissociation and Nuclear Receptor Turnover in Whole Cells.- Flow Cytometry as a Tool for Measurement of Steroid Hormone Receptor Protein Expression in Leukocytes.- X-Ray Crystallography of Agonist/Antagonist-Bound Receptors.- Nuclear Localization and DNA Binding.- FRAP and FRET Methods to Study Nuclear Receptors in Living Cells.- Receptor-DNA Interactions: EMSA and Footprinting.- Chromatin Immunoprecipitation (ChIP) Methodology and Readouts.- Nuclear Receptor-Co-Regulatory Protein Interactions.- Yeast-Based Reporter Assays for the Functional Characterization of Cochaperone Interactions with Steroid Hormone Receptors.- High Throughput Analysis of Nuclear Receptor-Cofactor Interactions.- Binding Affinity and Kinetic Analysis of Nuclear Receptor/Co-Regulator Interactions Using Surface Plasmon Resonance.- Using RNA Interference to Study Protein Function.- Using Intrinsic Fluorescence Emission Spectroscopy to Study Steroid Receptor and Coactivator Protein Conformation Dynamics.- Pathophysiological Analysis of Nuclear Receptor Function.- Development of Phosphorylation Site-Specific Antibodies to Nuclear Receptors.- Tissue-Selective Knockouts of Steroid Receptors: A Novel Paradigm in the Study of Steroid Action.- Methods for Identifying and Studying Genetic Alterations in Hormone-Dependent Cancers.