Nuclear interactions of wild type and variant glucocorticoid receptors

Nuclease digestion of nuclei from glucocorticoid sensitive and resistant lymphoma cell lines was used to study the nuclear compartmentalization of wild type and variant glucocorticoid receptors. In comparison with wild type, the variant line (S49 143r) had an increased capacity to translocate to the nucleus (nti), but was more completely released from nuclei by nuclease digestion. Approximately 20% of the receptor in wild type nuclei was resistant to release by DNase I digestion, while only less than 5% of the receptor from nti nuclei was retained under the same conditions. Studies with wild type nuclei show that the nuclease resistant portion of receptors was also more resistant to release by increased ionic strength.