Fun With Jolecule: The Glucocorticoid Receptor

      In order to research and explore protein structures, I had to utilize a protein model visualizer called Jolecule, on http://jolecule.appspot.com/ . Once on the main page, I clicked on the tutorial to familiarize myself with the visualizer, and then first examined the myglobin protein. Then, I looked through the "garden" feature of the website, and ultimately chose the glucocorticoid receptor protein to take a closer look at.
      The glucocorticoid receptor protein is responsible for controlling stress response within the nucleus of cells. The interaction between this receptor and actual glucocorticoids is referred to as a signal transduction process, which means that it involves the interaction of extracellular signaling molecules to receptors that trigger events inside the cell. This process can be broken down into steps, which helps to show the many functions of the glucocorticoid receptor. These steps can include: the transformation of a receptor into an active form as a result of specific interactions with steroid hormones; homo-dimerization, or the joining of two molecular subunits to create one dimer; DNA bindings to specific hormone responses; and modulation of expression levels within linked genes. Overall, the glucocorticoid receptor plays an integral part in the function of the cell as well as the interactions of steroid hormones within the cell, and that is why I find this protein to be interesting.
      The glucocorticoid receptor protein, in jolecule, is shown to be made up of several parts. These parts include the N-Terminal domain (the DNA), the DNA binding domain (DBD), a hinge region, the Ligand binding domain (LBD), as well as the C-Terminal domain (the end). In order for the receptor to work, the DBD has to bind to the N-Terminal domain, which occurs through the interaction of proteins in the DNA as well as the DBD. Then, the LBD is connected to the DBD through a hinge region which could be simple or complex. The interactions between the DNA as well as the DBD and LBD when coming into contact with a steroid hormone are what affect the dimerization of molecules as well as the affinity of binding DNA.
      Included below are some screenshots of the glucocorticoid receptor in the Jolecule model visualizer.

The above photo depicts the interactions between the DNA helix and the proteins of the DNA binding domain. The DNA helix is shown as the purple strands and the DNA binding domain is shown through the blue strands.

The above photo depicts the glucocorticoid receptor in relation to all of its components. The N-Terminal domain, or DNA, is shown as the purple strands. The DNA binding domain is shown as the blue strands, and the Ligand binding domain is shown as the blue strands. The yellow strands are the ligands that are involved in the process. 

The above photo depicts the hinge region of the glococorticoid receptor that binds the DBD to the LBD. In this case, the hinge region of the receptor involves the atom zinc.