Glucocorticoids are steroid hormones that control cellular responses through several different signaling pathways. One of the signaling pathways involves the glucocorticoid receptor, an intracellular protein that is activated by binding to a glucocorticoid molecule. A simplified model of the glucocorticoid receptor signaling pathway is represented in Figure 1.
Which of the following statements best predicts the effect of a mutation that results in a loss of the glucocorticoid receptor’s ligand binding function?