Glucokinase is also known as human hexokinase IV [1]. It is an enzyme that involves in the regulation of glucose homeostasis. Liver and pancreatic cells use glucokinase converts glucose molecule to glucose 6 phosphate.
Structure and Function
Glucokinase is a protein contains 465 amino acid residues which make up two domains, including a , colored in green and blue, respectively.
When glucose molecule binds to the of glucoskinase, it forms hydrogen bonds with . At the allosteric site, either glucokinase activators (GKA) or glucokinase inhibitor (GKI) will bind to regulate the activity of glucokinase by changing the conformation. JSmol structure shows an example of , where the GKA bind to the allosteric site. the allosteric site is composed of 3 hydrophobic pockets which are made up of different amino acid residues colored in pink, green, and purple [2]. Among these ammino acid residues, different residues will form hydrogen bond corresponding to different ligands that bind to the site.
