Transcriptional activation by retinoids is mediated through two families of nuclear receptors, all-trans-retinoic acid (RARs) and 9-cis retinoic acid receptors (RXRs). Conformationally restricted retinoids are used to achieve selective activation of RAR isotype α, β or γ, which reduces side effects in therapeutical applications. Synthetic retinoids mimic some of all-trans retinoic acid biological effects in vivo but interact differently with the ligand binding domain of RARα and induce distinct structural transitions of the receptor. In this report, we demonstrate that RAR-selective ligands have distinct quantitative activation properties which are reflected by their abilities to promote interaction of DNA-bound human RXRα (hRXRα)-hRARα heterodimers with the nuclear receptor coactivator (NCoA) SRC-1 in vitro. The hormone response element core motifs spacing defined the relative affinity of liganded heterodimers for two NCoAs, SRC-1 and RIP140. hRXRα activating function 2 was critical to confer hRARα full responsiveness but not differential sensitivity of hRARα to natural or synthetic retinoids. We also provide evidence showing that lysines located in helices 3 and 4, which define part of hRARα NCoA binding surface, contribute differently to (i) the transcriptional activity and (ii) the interaction of RXR-RAR heterodimers with SRC-1, when challenged by either natural or RAR-selective retinoids. Thus, ligand structure, DNA, and RXR exert allosteric regulations on hRARα conformation organized as a DNA-bound heterodimer. We suggest that the use of physically distinct NCoA binding interfaces may be important in controlling specific genes by conformationally restricted ligands.