Co-evolution analysis on endocrine research: a methodological approach.

The rapid growth of different kinds of biological information allows a good opportunity to analyze the co-evolutionary characteristics in endocrine regulatory pathways. Data ranging from kinds of species' genome, gene sequence, protein structure, and expression profile of different organisms can reveal the inner co-evolutionary relationship of ligands, receptors, and other related molecules. In return, these co-evolutionary characteristics can help us determine uncharacterized ligands and receptors, annotate gene functions, highlight amino acid residues with biochemical significance, and identify regulated genes in the endocrine process. Encouraging examples in this field, although at their starting stage, have emerged. Here we focus on recent progress in endocrine-related co-evolution research from a methodological approach.