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Cytochrome P450 NMa, which was first identified in this laboratory in rabbit nasal microsomes, is now known to represent two distinct gene products, P450s 2A10 and 2A11. In the present study, chimeric and site-directed mutants of 2A11 were constructed to determine which of the eight different amino acid residues are responsible for the much greater activity of 2A10 toward coumarin and testosterone. Mutation of Arg62 and Asp63 of 2A11 to the corresponding residues in 2A10, or mutation of Thr120 to Ser, as found in 2A10, did not change the activities. However, mutation of Arg62, Asp63, Gln104, Ala117, and Thr120 of 2A11 to the corresponding residues in 2A10 resulted in a protein that is as active as 2A10 in coumarin hydroxylation and approximately half as active as 2A10 in androstenedione formation. Mutation of Arg372 in 2A11 to His, as found in 2A10, resulted in a significant increase in the rate of hydroxylation of testosterone, but not of coumarin. Our findings indicate that the identify of the amino acid at position 104 and/or 117 is important for activity with testosterone and for regioselectivity at the 17 position, as well as for optimal activity with coumarin. In contrast, the identity of the residue at position 372 is important for optimal activity with testosterone but not the regioselectivity at the 17 position and does not influence the activity with coumarin.

The currently accepted model for the membrane topology of microsomal cytochrome P450 is that of a largely cytoplasmic domain bound by only one or two transmembrane segments at the NH2 terminus. However, as we have reported previously, P450 2E1 lacking the hydrophobic NH2-terminal signal peptide, like the full-length protein, is located in the inner cell membrane when expressed in Escherichia coli and is active with typical substrates. In the present study, additional variants of alcohol-inducible P450 2E1 as well as truncated forms of phenobarbital-inducible P450 2B4 were similarly expressed to determine the influence of the NH2-terminal region on the membrane-binding properties. After deletion of S1 (the NH2-terminal hydrophobic segment), or both S1 and L1 (the following hydrophilic region, expected to be lumenal or cytosolic), one-third of the resulting P450 2B4 (delta 2-20) and 2B4 (delta 2-27) remained membrane bound. Furthermore, the idea that the first two hydrophobic segments are required for attachment by a hairpin loop is not supported by the finding that after deletion of the S1, L1, and S2 segments about half of the P450 2E1 (delta 3-48) remained membrane bound. Since Na2CO3 treatment of the membrane fraction had no significant effect, the findings are apparently not attributable to a loose attachment or occlusion of the truncated proteins. The replacement of neutral amino acids by positively charged residues in positions 3 and 8 of P450 2E1 (delta 3-29) changed the amount in the cytosol from 35% to 50%, and the deletion of residues 2-20 or 2-27 from P450 2B4, which resulted in positive charges occurring in the NH2-terminal region, changed the amount in the cytosol from 27% to 67%. We conclude that alterations in the NH2-terminal region can change the location of the cytochrome from largely membranous to largely cytosolic and that the first two hydrophobic segments are not uniquely involved in membrane attachment.

We provide here a list of 221 P450 genes and 12 putative pseudogenes that have been characterized as of December 14, 1992. These genes have been described in 31 eukaryotes (including 11 mammalian and 3 plant species) and 11 prokaryotes. Of 36 gene families so far described, 12 families exist in all mammals examined to date. These 12 families comprise 22 mammalian subfamilies, of which 17 and 15 have been mapped in the human and mouse genome, respectively. To date, each subfamily appears to represent a cluster of tightly linked genes. This revision supersedes the previous updates [Nebert et al., DNA 6, 1-11, 1987; Nebert et al., DNA 8, 1-13, 1989; Nebert et al., DNA Cell Biol. 10, 1-14 (1991)] in which a nomenclature system, based on divergent evolution of the superfamily, has been described. For the gene and cDNA, we recommend that the italicized root symbol "CYP" for human ("Cyp" for mouse), representing "cytochrome P450," be followed by an Arabic number denoting the family, a letter designating the subfamily (when two or more exist), and an Arabic numeral representing the individual gene within the subfamily. A hyphen should precede the final number in mouse genes. "P" ("p" in mouse) after the gene number denotes a pseudogene. If a gene is the sole member of a family, the subfamily letter and gene number need not be included. We suggest that the human nomenclature system be used for all species other than mouse. The mRNA and enzyme in all species (including mouse) should include all capital letters, without italics or hyphens. This nomenclature system is identical to that proposed in our 1991 update. Also included in this update is a listing of available data base accession numbers for P450 DNA and protein sequences. We also discuss the likelihood that this ancient gene superfamily has existed for more than 3.5 billion years, and that the rate of P450 gene evolution appears to be quite nonlinear. Finally, we describe P450 genes that have been detected by expressed sequence tags (ESTs), as well as the relationship between the P450 and the nitric oxide synthase gene superfamilies, as a likely example of convergent evolution.

Rabbit nasal olfactory and respiratory microsomes were found to catalyze the alpha-hydroxylation of 4-(methylnitrosamino)-1-(3-pyridyl)-1-butanone (NNK) with specific activities of 262 and 136 pmol/min/mg protein in the formation of keto aldehyde, and of 318 and 190 pmol/min/mg protein in the formation of keto alcohol respectively. The formation of NNK-N-oxide was observed in experiments with rabbit olfactory and respiratory microsomes, but not with rat nasal microsomes. However, the rat nasal microsomes had higher activity in catalyzing the alpha-hydroxylation of NNK. In a reconstituted system, rabbit P450NMa, a major constitutive P450 isozyme in nasal microsomes, displayed high activities in the formation of the keto aldehyde and the keto alcohol with apparent Km values of 15 and 9 microM respectively. In comparison, rabbit olfactory specific P450NMb had a low activity in catalyzing the formation of keto aldehyde (Km = 186 microM) and no activity in the formation of keto alcohol. The P450NMa-catalyzed oxidation of NNK was inhibited by nicotine and diallyl sulfide. Kinetic studies indicated that nicotine is a competitive inhibitor. These results demonstrate that enzymes in rabbit nasal microsomes, especially P450NMa, efficiently catalyze the bioactivation of NNK.

The alcohol-inducible P450 2E subfamily in the rabbit has two known members that differ in only 16 amino acid residues scattered throughout the polypeptide chain. P450 2E1 has been thoroughly characterized, and is known to have diverse inducers and substrates. Little is known, however, about the properties of P450 2E2, since efforts to isolate this isozyme from adult rabbits have been unsuccessful. In the present study, 2E2 was purified to electrophoretic homogeneity from liver microsomes of neonatal rabbits with the use of 4-methylpyrazole as a stabilizing agent. The purified cytochrome was identified as 2E2 by NH 2 -terminal amino acid sequence analysis as well as by immunoblot analysis with three different antibodies to 2E1. Purified 2E2, in contrast to 2E1, is predominantly low-spin in the presence of 20% glycerol, but is in a mixed high- and low-spin state as the concentration of glycerol is decreased. The catalytic properties of purified 2E1 and 2E2 were compared in the reconstituted system with a variety of substrates, including alcohols, ethers nitrosamines, and aromatic compounds. Differences between the two enzymes in catalytic activity and in the interaction with cytochrome b 5 were observed with some but not all of the substrates tested. Purified 2E1 and 2E2 both consume molecular oxygen relatively rapidly during NADPH oxidation in the absence of an added substrate, and stoichiometric determinations indicated that only about 20% of the O 2 was reduced to H 2 O 2 , with the remainder apparently undergoing four-electron reduction to water.

As reported previously, alcohol-inducible cytochrome P-450 2E1 lacking the hydrophobic NH2-terminal segment is located primarily in the inner cell membrane when expressed in Escherichia coli and is active with a typical substrate. To study the catalytic properties in detail, we have purified the truncated P-450 lacking residues 3-29 to electrophoretic homogeneity from the solubilized bacterial membrane fraction in the presence of 4-methylpyrazole as a stabilizing agent. The resulting heme protein with a specific content of 15.8 nmol of P-450 per mg of protein has a reduced CO difference spectrum identical to that of the full-length enzyme, with a Soret maximum at 452 nm. The rates of catalysis of four reactions in the reconstituted enzyme system, including the oxygenation of ethanol to give acetaldehyde, the oxidative dealkylation of N-nitrosodiethylamine to give ethylene and acetaldehyde, and the ring hydroxylation of aniline and p-nitrophenol, are the same with the shortened and full-length enzymes. The apparent Km of p-nitrophenol is also the same, as is that for NADPH-cytochrome P-450 reductase and for cytochrome b5, which stimulates p-nitrocatechol formation about 3-fold. Moreover, the requirement for phosphatidylcholine for full catalytic activity is unchanged despite the absence of the NH2-terminal segment. Although this highly hydrophobic segment is believed to play a role in the intact cell as a membrane-insertion signal sequence, we conclude that it has no function in the catalytic activity of the cytochrome as an oxygenase, including interactions with the other components of the enzyme system.

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses the purification and characterization of cytochromes P450 in rabbit nasal microsomes. The nasal mucosa is rich in P450 cytochromes and other biotransformation enzymes, with the specific content of P450 in nasal microsomes being the highest among all rabbit extrahepatic tissues examined. A major portion of the microsomal P450 in rabbit olfactory mucosa is made up of two unique forms, termed P450 NMa and NMb, and the nasal tissues also contain P450 forms that are similar to the isozymes previously found in liver, such as P450 form 3a. The method described in this chapter for the isolation of NMa and NMb, which are the only nasal P450 cytochromes purified and characterized to date. NMa is present in both olfactory and respiratory mucosa, and in liver, whereas NMb is detected only in olfactory mucosa. Neither form is found in other tissues, including brain, lung, heart, intestinal mucosa, kidney, and esophageal mucosa.

A rabbit cytochrome P-450IIE2 full-length cDNA was cloned into a yeast episomal plasmid (YEp13) between the copper-responsive yeast metallothionein gene promoter (CUP1) and the iso-1-cytochrome c gene terminator (CYC1), and the cytochrome P-450 was expressed in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The microsomal fraction prepared from copper-treated cells exhibited a ferrous carbonyl difference spectrum with an absorption maximum at 451 nm and contained approximately 0.07 nmol of P-450IIE2 per mg of protein. The P-450IIE2 protein expressed in yeast microsomes was catalytically competent as judged by the NADPH-dependent deethylation of N-nitrosodiethylamine and by the oxidation of butanol. Cholate solubilization and polyethylene glycol fractionation of yeast microsomal P-450IIE2 yielded a preparation with a markedly lower specific content than that of intact microsomes, but, when 4-methylpyrazole was included during solubilization, the holoenzyme was completely stabilized.

The expression of the cDNA for alcohol-inducible rabbit liver microsomal cytochrome P-450 form 3a (P450IIE1) in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, with the use of the copper-inducible yeast metallothionein (CUP1) promoter and the ADH1 promoter, is described. Strains 50.L4 and PP1002 were compared for optimal levels of expressed protein. Immunoblot analysis showed that a much higher level of expression of cytochrome P-450 3a is obtained with strain 50.L4, and that the uninduced levels of expressed protein are similar with the two promoters. With the CUP1 promoter, transcription of the cDNA is strongly induced in the presence of cupric ions, and the amount of immunoreactive protein expressed in increased 20-fold in strain 50.L4, such that it constitutes 0.8% of the total cellular protein. The cytochrome P-450 holoenzyme content of these cells, calculated from the reduced CO difference spectrum, is about 0.02 nmole/mg of protein, or 0.1% of the total cellular protein. The holoenzyme content of microsomes prepared from these cells is up to 0.06 nmole/mg of protein, or 0.4% of the microsomal protein. Microsomal assays for ethylene formation from N-nitrosodiethylamine and for aniline p-hydroxylation, two reactions typical of purified rabbit cytochrome P-450 form 3a, showed that the cytochrome synthesized in yeast catalyzes both reactions. Furthermore, polyclonal anti-3a IgG completely inhibits the reactions with both substrates in yeast microsomes. A comparison of the product ratios from these substrates showed that the cytochrome P-450 3a expressed in yeast has catalytic activities similar to those of the authentic rabbit protein.

Rabbit nasal olfactory and respiratory microsomes demonstrate high activity toward [3H]-(S)-nicotine, with specific activities of 22.2 and 6.5 nmol/min/mg protein, respectively. The major metabolite produced is (S)-nicotine delta 1'; 5'-iminium ion, with lesser amounts of nornicotine and the N'-oxide. Reconstitution of the rabbit nasal microsomal system with cytochromes P-450 NMa and NMb indicated that only P-450 NMa has significant activity toward nicotine, and the metabolite profile and turnover are similar to that observed with nasal microsomes. The low Km (35 microMs) and high Vmax (28 min-1) suggest that a significant portion of inhaled nicotine is metabolized by nasal tissues in the rabbit.

Publisher Summary This chapter describes the reductive cleavage of hydroperoxides by cytochrome P- 450. Various forms of liver microsomal cytochrome P-450 (cytochrome P- 450 LM ) are known to catalyze numerous chemical reactions, including the hydroxylation of fatty acids, steroids, and a variety of foreign compounds, such as drugs and carcinogens. These monooxygenation reactions require aerobic conditions and nicotine adenine dinucleotide phosphate hydrogenase (NADPH) as the electron donor in microsomal suspensions or in the reconstituted system containing purified cytochrome P-450 LM , purified NADPH-cytochrome-P-450 reductase, and phosphatidylcholine. On the other hand, molecular oxygen, NADPH, and the reductase are not required when organic hydroperoxides or related compounds serve as the oxygen donor in cytochrome P-450 LM -catalyzed substrate hydroxylations. In such reactions, the hydroperoxides are converted to the corresponding alcohols so that cumyl hydroperoxide, for example, is converted to cumyl alcohol. Other model hydroperoxides in addition to cumyl serve as substrates in the reductive cleavage reaction. α-Methylbenzyl hydroperoxide yields acetophenone as well as benzaldehyde because either a hydrogen atom or a methyl group can be lost, benzyl hydroperoxide yields benzaldehyde, and tert -butyl hydroperoxide yields acetone and methane. With limiting amounts of cytochrome P-450 form present, the turnover numbers, expressed as nanomoles of NADPH oxidized per minute per nanomole of the cytochrome, are 60, 30, 24, and 6 for tert -butyl, cumyl, α-methylbenzyl, and benzyl hydroperoxides, respectively. Pentane has been identified as a cleavage product of the 15-hydroperoxide derived from arachidonic acid as well as from the 13-hydroperoxide derived from linoleic acid.

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses assays for cytochrome P- 450 peroxygenase activity. Toluene, which yields benzyl alcohol in the cytochrome P- 450-catalyzed peroxygenase reaction, is a useful substrate in mechanistic studies. To determine benzyl alcohol formation at fixed time intervals, a gas chromatographic assay is employed. Cytochrome P- 450 is versatile enzyme that catalyzes numerous types of chemical reactions with a variety of substrates, including the hydroxylation of xenobiotics, such as drugs, pesticides, dyes, organic solvents, anesthetics, and carcinogens, as well as naturally occurring lipids, including steroids, fatty acids, and prostaglandins. Molecular oxygen serves as the natural donor when electrons are supplied to cytochrome P- 450 by nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADPH) via proteins that serve as electron carriers. In the case of liver microsomes or the reconstituted enzyme system, NADPH-cytochrome- P- 450 reductase serves as the carrier and in the overall reaction equimolar amounts of substrate, O 2 , and NADPH are consumed and equimolar amounts of hydroxylated substrate, H 2 O, and NADP are formed. Molecular oxygen can be replaced by a variety of hydroperoxides and related artificial donors. Following the discovery of the ability of cytochrome P- 450-containing microsomal suspensions to promote the oxygenation of an organic substrate at the expense of an alkyl hydroperoxide, other oxidants, such as peroxy acids, periodate, iodosobenzene, iodobenzene diacetate, and N-oxides, are found to function in a similar capacity.

In this update we provide a list of the 71 P450 genes and the four P450 pseudogenes that have been characterized as of September 30, 1988. The chromosomal locations of many of these genes are also summarized. A modest revision of the initially proposed nomenclature of the P450 superfamily (Nebert et al., DNA 6, 1-11, 1987) is described specifically for the human and mouse chromosomal loci. The motivation for this revision is to conform to the rules of nomenclature for human and mouse genes. Recommendations for the naming of chromosomal loci include the root symbol "CYP" for human ("Cyp" for mouse), denoting "cytochrome P450." We recommend that this root also be used for other organisms. For a chromosomal locus, the root symbol is followed by an Arabic numeral designating the P450 family, a letter indicating the subfamily, and an Arabic numeral representing the individual gene within the family or subfamily. Numbers of the individual genes usually will be assigned in the order the genes are identified. This system is consistent with our earlier proposed nomenclature for P450 families and gene products from all eukaryotes and prokaryotes.

The formation and autoxidative decomposition of the oxygenated forms of two isozymes of rabbit liver microsomal cytochrome P-450 were studied: 5,6-benzoflavone- or isosafrole-inducible P-450LM4, isolated in the high spin state, and P-450LM3b, isolated in the low spin state. When an anaerobic solution of photochemically reduced isozyme 4 was mixed with aerobic buffer in a stopped flow spectrophotometer, the dioxygen complex with absorption maxima at 555 and 418 nm was rapidly formed. The monophasic reaction had a pseudo-first order rate constant of about 58 s-1. Autoxidation of the complex, which was complete in about 20 s, exhibited biphasic first order kinetics at 580 nm with rate constants of about 0.92 and 0.22 s-1. The results obtained with isozyme 3b were similar, except that the decomposition of the ferrous oxy intermediate appeared to be triphasic. Superoxide could not be detected as a product of the autoxidative decomposition of the oxy form of P-450 isozyme 4. Hydrogen peroxide was produced in about 70% yield when oxygen was in excess, whereas in a titration in which small increments of oxygen were added to an excess of the ferrous cytochrome the reduction apparently led to the formation of water. The biphasic kinetics of some of the reactions involving purified mammalian cytochrome P-450 has in some instances been attributed to the formation of aggregates by these hydrophobic proteins. This was ruled out as an explanation of the kinetics observed for the autoxidative decay of ferrous dioxygen P-450LM4, since two phases were also observed with a preparation converted from the usual aggregated state to the monomeric state by exposure to a zwitterionic detergent.

The two major forms of rabbit liver microsomal cytochrome P -450, P -450 LM2 and P -450 LM4 , which were previously shown to differ in their absorption spectra, electrophoretic and immunochemical properties, and substrate specificities, have been further characterized by several methods, (a) The two cytochromes have different CD spectra in the ferric state but similar spectra when reduced. Upon conversion of P -450 LM2 to P -420 by treatment with sodium dodecyl sulfate, the CD spectrum is greatly diminished except in the far ultraviolet region, whereas the conversion of P -450 LM4 to P -420 with this detergent results in a spectrum with a new positive band in the visible region, (b) Although P -450 LM4 has a much higher tryptophan content than P -450 LM2 , the fluorescence spectra of these proteins are similar in magnitude. Upon denaturation, the fluorescence of P -450 LM4 increases, thereby indicating a large quenching effect in the native protein, (c) Studies on the interaction of dilauroylglyceryl-3-phosphorylcholine with the cytochromes showed that P -450 LM2 gives a much stronger Type I difference spectrum than does P -450 LM4 . This phospholipid has no significant effect on the state of aggregation of these cytochromes as judged by calibrated gel filtration. The CD spectra of P -450 LM2 and P -450 LM4 are unchanged in the visible region but are enhanced in the far ultraviolet region upon the addition of phosphatidylcholine. The results appear to indicate an increase in α-helical content, particularly with P -450 LM4 , in the presence of the phospholipid.

A new isozyme of cytochrome P-450 has been purified to electrophoretic homogeneity from hepatic microsomes of rabbits treated chronically with ethanol. Several criteria indicate that the ethanol-inducible cytochrome, which has a minimal molecular weight of 51,000 and is designated form 3a on the basis of its relative electrophoretic mobility, is distinct from the known isozymes of P-450. As judged spectrally, the new isozyme is high spin in the oxidized state, as is form 4, but differs in that the spin state is unperturbed by nonionic detergents. The absolute spectrum of the ferrous carbonyl complex of form 3a is red shifted as compared to that of forms 2, 3b, 3c, 4, and 6 and exhibits a maximum at 452 nm. The amino acid composition of form 3a is different from that of the other isozymes, and both the NH2- and COOH-terminal sequences are distinct; form 3a has an NH2-terminal alanine and a carboxyl-terminal leucine residue. Peptide mapping by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis following treatment with papain, chymotrypsin, or Staphylococcus aureus V8 protease and by high performance liquid chromatography following trypsinolysis indicates that form 3a is a unique gene product. This cytochrome displays the highest activity of all of the rabbit isozymes in the oxidation of ethanol to acetaldehyde and the p-hydroxylation of aniline when reconstituted with NADPH-cytochrome P-450 reductase and phospholipid in the presence of NADPH and oxygen.

Several mixed-function oxidation systems catalyze the inactivation of Escherichia coli glutamine synthetase. Inactivation involves modification of a single histidine residue in each enzyme subunit and makes the enzyme susceptible to proteolytic degradation. We show here that 10 key enzymes in metabolism are inactivated by a bacterial NADH oxidase and by an oxidase system comprised of NADPH, cytochrome P-450 reductase, and cytochrome P-450 isozyme 2 from rabbit liver microsomes. Most of the inactivatable enzymes require a divalent cation for activity and all but one (enolase) possess a nucleotide binding site. Glutamine synthetase, pyruvate kinase, and phosphoglycerate kinase are protected from inactivation by their substrates; substrate protection of other enzymes was not tested. We propose that inactivation involves mixed-function oxidization system-catalyzed synthesis of H 2 O 2 and reduction of Fe(III) to Fe(II) followed by oxidation of enzyme-bound Fe(II) by H 2 O 2 to generate oxygen radicals that attack a histidine (or other oxidizable amino acid) at the metal binding site of the enzyme. This is supported by the following: ( i ) most of the inactivation reactions are inhibited by EDTA and by catalase, ( ii ) both mixed-function oxidation systems reduce Fe(III), and ( iii ) H 2 O 2 together with Fe(II) catalyzes nonenzymic inactivation of glutamine synthetase. In view of the fact that inactivation of glutamine synthetase makes it susceptible to proteolytic degradation, it is possible that mixed-function oxidation system-catalyzed inactivation of enzymes is a regulatory step in enzyme turn-over. In addition, the implication of oxidative inactivation reactions in ageing is suggested by the fact that many of the enzymes inactivated by mixed-function oxidation systems are known to accumulate as inactive forms during ageing.

Cytochrome P-450 is known to catalyze the following oxygen transfer reaction: RH + PhIO----ROH + PhI where RH represents a variety of hydroxylatable substrates and PhIO a variety of iodosobenzene derivatives that serve as oxygen donors, and neither molecular oxygen nor an external electron donor is required. To determine whether the cytochrome functions in such reactions by a peroxidase-type mechanism, the kinetics of its interaction with a variety of substituted iodosobenzenes and iodobenzene diacetates have been determined by stopped flow spectrophotometry. The reaction of phenobarbital-induced rabbit liver microsomal cytochrome P-450 form 2 with iodosobenzenes or iodobenzene diacetates leads to the reversible formation of three spectral intermediates, termed E, F, and G. Complex E is characterized by a type I difference spectrum, representing the iodosobenzene-dependent partial shift of the low spin hexacoordinate form of the ferric enzyme to the high spin pentacoordinate form, F represents a transient intermediate whose spectrum cannot be determined for kinetic reasons, and G represents a blue-shifted intermediate with an absorption maximum at about 393 nm in the absolute spectrum. The striking and principal feature of these observations is that the spectrum of Complex G does not vary with structural differences in the iodosobenzene derivatives, in contrast to the transient species observed in previous studies in this laboratory in the reaction between cytochrome P-450 form 2 and aromatic peroxy compounds. Complex G exhibits the spectral properties one might anticipate for an iron-oxo intermediate containing only one oxygen atom derived from the starting iodosobenzene.

The ethanol-induced rabbit liver microsomal cytochrome P-450, P-450LM3a, has been shown previously to efficiently catalyze the demethylation of N-nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA) with a Km of 2.9 mM. Since the predominant Km in hepatic microsomes from ethanol-treated rabbits is 0.07 mM, the role of P-450LM3a in the activation of this carcinogen has been uncertain. In the present study, antibodies to P-450LM3a were shown to almost completely inhibit NDMA demethylation by the purified P-450 in a reconstituted system as well as the low-Km activity of liver microsomes from control or ethanol-treated rabbits. In contrast, the antibody did not inhibit the high-Km NDMA demethylase activity in the microsomes. These results indicate that P-450LM3a is the major P-450 responsible for the low-Km NDMA demethylase activity. In addition, evidence is provided for the existence of a cytochrome immunochemically similar to P-450LM3a in liver microsomes from rats, mice, and guinea pigs that effectively catalyzes the demethylation of NDMA.

Liver microsomes from rabbits treated chronically with ethanol were solubilized and fractionated to yield a new isozyme of cytochrome P-450 in a homogeneous state. This cytochrome, designated as isozyme 3a on the basis of its relative electrophoretic mobility, is distinct from the known isozymes as judged by its spectral properties, minimal molecular weight, amino acid composition, and NH 2 - and COOH-terminal amino acid sequences. In addition, peptide mapping by high performance liquid chromatography following trypsinolysis indicates that form 3a is a unique gene product. This cytochrome has unusually high activity in the oxidation of ethanol and other alcohols to aldehydes and in the p -hydroxylation of aniline as compared with the other isozymes of P-450. The ethanol-oxidizing activity of isozyme 3a, which requires the presence of NADPH and NADPH-cytochrome P-450 reductase and is stimulated by the presence of phosphatidylcholine, is not due to contamination by catalase or an NAD + -or NADP + -dependent alcohol dehydrogenase.

A new isozyme of cytochrome P-450, designated from 3a on the basis of its relative electrophoretic mobility, has been purified to homogeneity from liver microsomes of rabbits treated chronically with ethanol. This cytochrome has the highest activity of the known rabbit P-450 isozymes in the oxidation of ethanol to acetaldehyde. In view of the reports of others that the hepatotoxicity of acetaminophen is increased in ethanol-treated animals and the human alcoholic, we have determined the activity of the six available P-450 isozymes in the activation of the drug to give an intermediate which forms a conjugate with reduced glutathione. Isozyme 3a, 4, and 6, the three major forms of cytochrome P-450 present in liver microsomes from rabbits chronically treated with ethanol, exhibited the highest activities in the reconstituted enzyme system, whereas isozymes 3b and 3c were 10- to 20-fold less effective and phenobarbital-inducible isozyme 2 was essentially inactive, even in the presence of cytochrome b5. The results obtained thus indicate that induction by ethanol of P-450 isozyme 3a may contribute to the toxicity of acetaminophen but that other cytochromes also play a significant role.

The effect of flavone and 7,8-benzoflavone on the metabolism of benzo[a]pyrene to fluorescent phenols by five cytochrome P-450 isozymes obtained from rabbit liver microsomes was determined. Benzo[a]pyrene metabolism was stimulated more than 5-fold by the addition of 600 microM flavone to a reconstituted monooxygenase system consisting of NADPH, cytochrome P-450 reductase, dilauroylphosphatidylcholine, and cytochrome P-450LM3c or cytochrome P-450LM4. In contrast, an inhibitory effect of flavone on benzo[a]pyrene metabolism was observed when cytochrome P-450LM2, cytochrome P-450LM3b, or cytochrome P-450LM6 was used in the reconstituted system. 7,8-Benzoflavone (50-100 microM) stimulated benzo[a]pyrene metabolism by the reconstituted monooxygenase system about 10-fold when cytochrome P-450LM3c was used, but benzo[a]pyrene hydroxylation was strongly inhibited when 7,8-benzoflavone was added to the cytochrome P-450LM6-dependent system. Smaller effects of 7,8-benzoflavone were observed on the metabolism of benzo[a]pyrene by the cytochrome P-450LM2-, cytochrome P-450LM3b-, and cytochrome P-450LM4-dependent monooxygenase systems. These results demonstrate that the activating and inhibiting effects of flavone and 7,8-benzoflavone on benzo[a]pyrene metabolism depend on the type of cytochrome P-450 used in the reconstituted monooxygenase system.

The form of liver microsomal cytochrome P-450 induced by chronic administration of ethanol to rabbits, designated as P-450ALC or P-450 isozyme 3a, has been purified to homogeneity as judged by several criteria, including NH2- and COOH-terminal amino acid sequence determination. The reconstituted alcohol-P-450 oxygenase (APO) system containing P-450ALC and NADPH-cytochrome P-450 reductase catalyzes the oxidation of a variety of primary and secondary alcohols to aldehydes and ketones, including methanol, ethanol, n-propanol, n-butanol, 2-butanol, n-pentanol, and cyclohexanol. Other purified P-450 cytochromes, including isozymes 2, 3b, 3c, 4, and 6, are much less active than P-450ALC in the oxidation of alcohols. That P-450ALC functions in ethanol oxidation in liver microsomal membranes as well as in the reconstituted system was shown by immunochemical experiments involving inhibition by sheep anti-P-450ALC antibodies. We conclude that P-450ALC is the predominant ethanol-oxidizing cytochrome present after induction by chronic alcohol administration and that the other P-450 cytochromes have low but significant activity in both control and ethanol-induced animals.

NADPH-cytochrome P -450 reductase has been purified to electrophoretic homogeneity from rabbit liver microsomes by a procedure that may be used in conjunction with the isolation of the major forms of cytochrome P -450. The purified reductase is active in a reconstituted hydroxylation system containing P -450LM 2 or P -450LM 4 . The enzyme contains one molecule each of FMN and FAD per polypeptide chain having an apparent minimal molecular weight of 74,000. Immunological techniques provided evidence for only a single form of the reductase; lower molecular weight forms occasionally seen are believed to be due to degradation by contaminating microsomal or bacterial proteases. Upon anaerobic photochemical reduction, the rabbit liver reductase undergoes spectral changes highly similar to those previously described by Vermilion and Coon for the rat liver enzyme; the fully reduced rabbit liver enzyme is converted to the three-electron-reduced form by the addition of NADP and then to the stable one-electron-reduced form by exposure to oxygen. The CD spectra of the fully oxidized enzyme, one-electron-reduced form (air-stable semiquinone), three-electron-reduced form, and fully reduced form are presented. The results obtained provide evidence that the FMN and FAD are in highly different environments in the enzyme, as also indicated by the different redox potentials and oxygen reactivities of the flavins.

The P-450 cytochromes have been characterized biochemically in recent years as a family of monooxygenases that reductively activate molecular oxygen for insertion into steroids and other physiologically occurring lipids. Many of these enzymes are also known to bind and oxygenate a host of foreign compounds, including alcohol, drugs, pesticides, anesthetics, and mutagens. Some of the poorly understood variations in congenital adrenal hyperplasia may represent nutritional effects on the P-450 oxygenase systems or the ability of xenobiotics to interfere with normal steroid metabolism by these versatile cytochromes.

The catalytic activities of hepatic microsomes from untreated, phenobarbital-treated and 3- methylcholanthrene-treated adult rabbits with respect to benzo(a)pyrene hydroxylation and the acti- vation of (-)truns-7,8-dihydroxy-7,8-dihydrobenzo(a)pyrene(( -)~ans-7,8-diol) to DNA-binding metab- olites were determined in the absence and presence of mixed-function oxidase inhibitors and compared to the corresponding activities of the individual enzyme systems. Treatment of rabbits with phenobarbital led to induction of P-450LMz and a concomitant 3-fold enhancement in microsomal benzo(a)pyrene hydroxylase activity, whereas the conversion of (-)rrans-7,8-diol to DNA-binding products was unaffected. Homogeneous phenobarbital-inducible P-450LM2 exhibited the highest activity and speci- ficity toward benzo(a)pyrene and the lowest activity toward (-)rrun.s-7,8-diol. Conversely, P-4SOLM4 was the major form of cytochrome P-450 induced in rabbit liver by 3-methylcholanthrene or p- naphthoflavone, and this was associated in microsomes with an increase in the metabolism of (-)trans- 7,8-diol but not of benzo(a)pyrene. Homogeneous P-450LM4 preferentially catalyzed the oxygenation of (-)tran.s-7,d in contrast, the activity of control microsomes with either substrate, and the activities of P-450LM4 and LM2 with benzo(a)pyrene and (-)trans-7,8-dial, respectively, were only partially or slightly decreased by 7,8-benzoflavone. Unlike 7,8_benzoflavone, butylated hydroxy- toluene inhibited benzo(a)pyrene hydroxylation only. Thus, different forms of rabbit liver microsomal cytochrome P-450 were involved in the metabolism of benzo(n)pyrene and its 7,8_dihydrodiol. The results also demonstrate that the changes in substrate specificity and inhibitor sensitivity seen in phenobarbital- and 3-methylcholanthrene-induced microsomes relative to control rabbit liver micro- somes can be accounted for by the catalytic properties of a specific form of cytochrome P-450 that prevails in these preparations, P-450LMz and LM4, respectively.

Earlier findings in several laboratories have suggested that the various forms of cytochrome P-450 within a given species or from different species are not closely related. However, our present studies on the primary structure of the phenobarbital-inducible cytochrome from rabbit liver microsomes (P-450LM2) show that this protein is about 80% identical to the corresponding rat protein (P-450b), the sequence of which was recently deduced by others. For example, of the first 70 residues of the NH2-terminal sequences, 52 are identical, with most differences structurally conservative and attributable to point mutations. No evidence was found for heterogeneity in the region of the rabbit cytochrome corresponding to the variable region proposed for the rat cytochrome. A comparison of the known primary structure of P-450LM2 with that of P-450b and that of the bacterial camphor-hydroxylating cytochrome (P-450cam) as recently reported by others reveals only one highly conserved cysteine-containing peptide present in approximately the same position in each cytochrome. This peptide in the rabbit enzyme, -Arg-Ile-Gln-Glu-Glu-Ala-Arg-Cys147-Leu-Val-Glu-Glu-Leu-Arg-, and the corresponding peptides containing Cys152 in P-450b and Cys134 in P-450cam may serve an essential function such as providing the axial thiolate ligand to the heme iron atom.

Administration of ethanol to rabbits is known to induce a unique liver microsomal cytochrome P-450, termed isozyme 3a or P-450ALC, which is responsible for the increased oxidation of ethanol and other alcohols and the activation of toxic or carcinogenic compounds such as acetaminophen and N-nitrosodimethylamine. To further characterize this cytochrome P-450 we have identified cDNA clones to isozyme 3a by immunoscreening, DNA hybridization, and hybridization-selection. The cDNA sequence determined from two overlapping clones contains an open reading frame of 1416 nucleotides, and the first 25 amino acids of this reading frame correspond to residues 21-45 of cytochrome P-450 3a. The complete polypeptide, including residues 1 to 20, contains 492 amino acids and has a molecular weight of 56,820. Cytochrome P-450 3a is approximately 55% identical in sequence to P-450 isozymes 1 and 3b and 48% identical to isozyme 2. Hybridization of clone p3a-2 to electrophoretically fractionated rabbit liver poly(A)+ RNA revealed multiple bands, but, with a probe derived from the 3' nontranslated portion of this cDNA, only a 1.9-kilobase band was observed. Treatment of rabbits with imidazole, which increases the content of isozyme 3a, resulted in a transient increase in form 3a mRNA, but this was judged to be insufficient to account for the known 4.5-fold increase in form 3a protein. Genomic DNA analysis indicated that the cytochrome P-450 3a gene does not belong to a large subfamily.

The reduction of highly purified cytochrome P-450 from rabbit liver microsomes under anaerobic conditions requires 2 electrons per molecule. Similar results were obtained with dithionite, NADPH in the presence of NADPH-cytochrome P-450 reductase, or a photochemical system as the electron donor, with CO or other ligands, with substrate or phosphatidylcholine present, after denaturation to form cytochrome P-420, or with cytochrome P-450 partially purified from rat or mouse liver microsomes. The reduced cytochrome P-450 donates 2 electrons to dichlorophenolindophenol or to cytochrome c. Reoxidation of reduced cytochrome P-450 by molecular oxygen restores a state where 2 electrons from dithionite are required for re-reduction. Although these unexpected findings indicate the presence of an electron acceptor in addition to the heme iron atom, significant amounts of non-heme iron, other metals or cofactors, or disulfide bonds were not found, and free radicals were not detected by electron paramagnetic resonance spectrometry. Resolution of the cytochrome with acetone and acid yielded the apoenzyme, which did not accept electrons, and ferriprotoporphyrin IX, which accepted a single electron. A reconstituted hemoprotein preparation with the spectral characteristics of cytochrome P-420 accepted as much as 0.7 extra electron equivalent per heme. The midpoint oxidation-reduction potential of purified cytochrome P-450 from rabbit liver microsomes at pH 7.0 is -330 mv, and with CO present this value is changed to about -150 mv. The oxidation-reduction potential is unaffected by the presence of phosphatidylcholine or benzphetamine, a typical substrate. Laurate, aminopyrine, and benzphetamine undergo hydroxylation in the presence of chemically reduced cytochrome P-450 and molecular oxygen. Neither NADPH nor the reductase is required for substrate hydroxylation under these conditions.

The exon-intron organization of two rabbit genes that hybridize with cytochrome P-450 3a (P-450ALC) cDNA has been determined by restriction mapping and sequence analysis. Gene 1 encodes cytochrome P-450 3a as judged by the complete identity of its coding nucleotide sequence with P-450 3a cDNA. Gene 2 encodes a previously uncharacterized cytochrome P-450 that is 97% identical in primary structure to P-450 3a, with 16 amino acid differences scattered throughout the protein. Genes 1 and 2, which are 10 and 9 kilobases in length, respectively, are comprised of 9 exons with exon-intron junctions occurring at identical positions along the mRNA sequences. Each gene contains two transcription start sites approximately 27 and 33 nucleotides upstream from the translation initiation codon, as determined by primer extension and S1 nuclease protection experiments. The predicted lengths of gene 1 and 2 transcripts from the first transcription start site to the poly(A) attachment site are 1999 and 1660 nucleotides, respectively. This difference in size is primarily the result of a 338-base pair deletion in the 3' nontranslated portion of the gene 2 transcript relative to that of gene 1. The two genes show considerable similarity in their 5' flanking regions, including a "TATAA" transcriptional promoter element at position -28. However, a 32-base pair element that is repeated in gene 1 is present only as a single inexact copy in gene 2. By use of synthetic oligonucleotides as hybridization probes, gene 2 transcripts were shown to be present in poly(A)+ RNA from untreated rabbit liver at approximately 50% of P-450 3a mRNA levels. In kidney, however, no gene 2 mRNA was detected although 3a mRNA was present at approximately 10% of the level in liver.

Two genes that hybridize to the cDNA for alcohol-inducible cytochrome P-450 form 3a (P-450ALC) have been isolated from a rabbit genomic library and characterized by restriction mapping, hybridization, and partial sequence analysis. The genes show extensive sequence similarity as judged by hybridization at high stringency to the coding region of P-450 3a cDNA. However, only gene 1 hybridizes under these conditions to the 3′ nontranslated segment of P-450 3a cDNA. The hybridizing fragments derived from both cloned genes were found to be present in the genome of all rabbits examined by Southern blot analysis, indicating that the genes represent separate loci and are not polymorphic alleles. Partial sequence analysis indicated that gene 1 encodes P-450 3a. Gene 2, if transcribed, would encode a protein with greater than 96% sequence identity with P-450 3a in the NH2-terminal region.

An optically transparent thin-layer electrode cell with a very small volume was used for determination of the formal reduction potentials of bacterial, microsomal, and mitochondrial cytochromes P-450. At an extrapolated zero concentration of dye, the bacterial cytochrome from Pseudomonas putida catalyzing the hydroxylation of camphor and the adrenal mitochondrial cytochrome catalyzing the cholesterol side-chain cleavage reaction had formal reduction potentials of -168 and -285 mV (pH 7.5 and 25 degrees C), respectively. The oxidation-reduction potentials for the rabbit liver microsomal cytochrome P-450 induced by 3-methylcholanthrene and the mitochondrial cytochrome for steroid 11 beta-hydroxylation were found as -360 and -286 mV, respectively. Potential measurements at different temperatures allowed documentation of the standard thermodynamic parameters for cytochrome P-450 reduction for the first time. All cytochromes tested were found to have a relatively large negative entropy change upon reduction. The extent of these changes is comparable to that observed for the ferric-ferrous couple of cytochrome c. An entropy-enthalpy compensation effect was observed among the four cytochromes P-450 examined although the correlation is weaker than that observed with cytochrome c isolated from various sources.

Evidence is presented that cytochrome P-450 catalyzes the reductive cleavage of hydroperoxides. For example, in a reconstituted system containing rabbit liver microsomal P-450 form 2, NADPH-cytochrome P-450 reductase, and NADPH, cumyl hydroperoxide yields acetophenone and methane, but no cumyl alcohol is formed. The stoichiometry of the reaction and similar results with alpha-methylbenzyl, benzyl, and t-butyl hydroperoxides are in accord with the following general equation, in which X represents an alkyl group and R and R' are either alkyl groups or hydrogen atoms in the starting peroxide: XRR'C-OOH + NADPH + H+----XRCO + R'H + H2O + NADP+. Because 13-hydroperoxy-9,11-octadecadienoic acid yields pentane under these conditions, we propose that the known formation of alkanes and aldehydes in membrane lipid peroxidation involves reductive cleavage by P-450 to give the products predicted by the above equation. The cleavage reaction is thought to involve stepwise one-electron transfer, resulting in homolysis of the peroxide oxygen-oxygen bond and generation of an alkoxy radical, with beta-scission of the latter followed by reduction of the secondary radical to the hydrocarbon. In accordance with this scheme, when the cleavage reaction with cumyl hydroperoxide was done in 2H2O, deuteromethane was formed.

Cytochrome P-450 and NADPH cytochrome P-450 reductase were incorporated into large unilamellar lipid vesicles (200–300 nm in diameter) removing octylglucoside from mixed micelles by dialysis. The large size of the protein-containing liposomes guarantees a negligibly small vesicle tumbling. Such large vesicles are better suited for studies of protein rotation in reconstituted membranes than vesicles prepared by use of bile salts. At present the octylglucoside reconstituted monooxygenase system seems to be the most appropriate model for studying protein-protein and protein-lipid interactions in liver microsomes due to the similarity with respect to the main structural and functional properties, including size.

Incubation of prostaglandin E1 (PGE1) with liver microsomes from control rabbits and from rabbits treated with ethanol or imidazole yielded 18-, 19-, and 20-hydroxy metabolites, representing hydroxylation at omega-2, omega-1, and omega carbons, respectively. The current investigation demonstrates that rabbit liver P-450 isozyme 6 effectively catalyzes the omega-1 and omega-2 hydroxylation of PGE1 and PGE2. Additionally, a small amount of product with chromatographic characteristics of the corresponding 20-hydroxy metabolite has been detected. The incorporation of cytochrome b5 into the reconstituted system did not enhance the rate of PGE1 hydroxylation and had no effect on the ratio of products formed. The Km value for the omega-1 and omega-2 hydroxylation of PGE1 with P-450 isozyme 6 from imidazole-treated rabbits was approximately 140 microM; the Vmax's (nmol product min-1 nmol P-450-1) were 2.1 and 1.1 for the omega-1 and omega-2 hydroxylations, respectively. These rates represent the highest activities by hepatic P-450 isozymes for hydroxylation of PGs, and suggest that isozyme 6 is responsible for the omega-2 hydroxylation of PGEs observed in rabbit liver microsomes.

The liver microsomal enzyme system which hydroxylates fatty acids, hydrocarbons, and a variety of drugs and other foreign compounds was previously solubilized and resolved into three components: cytochrome P-450, NADPH-cytochrome P-450 reductase, and phospholipid. The two enzymes were partially purified from pyrophosphate-treated, cholate-solubilized liver microsomes of phenobarbital-treated rabbits by fractionation with polyethylene glycol 6000 and DEAE-cellulose column chromatography in the presence of Renex-690, a nonionic detergent. These steps were followed by treatment with Amberlite XAD-2 and calcium phosphate gel. Cytochrome P-450 preparations purified to a content as high as 15 nmoles per mg of protein were free of cytochrome b5 and contained no significant amount of NADPH-cytochrome c reductase, NADH-cytochrome c reductase, nonheme iron, other metals as measured by neutron activation analysis, or labile sulfide. The molecular weight was judged to be about 280,000 by gel exclusion chromatography and sucrose density gradient centrifugation. Polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis of the partially purified cytochrome P-450 preparation treated with sodium dodecyl sulfate and mercaptoethanol showed the presence of two major polypeptide bands, one with a molecular weight of 47,000 to 49,000 and the other 52,000 to 53,000. The component of lower molecular weight corresponded to the major polypeptide induced by phenobarbital treatment, as shown by electrophoresis of the proteins in normal and induced microsomes. The partially purified preparation accepted 2 electrons from dithionite per molecule of cytochrome P-450 under anaerobic conditions, indicating the presence of another electron acceptor in addition to the iron atom of the hemeprotein. The partially purified NADPH-cytochrome P-450 reductase preparations, which catalyzed the reduction of 8.6 to 10.0 µmoles of cytochrome c per min per mg of protein at 30°, were free of cytochrome P-450 and contained only a trace of NADH-cytochrome c reductase. FMN and FAD were found to be present in equimolar amounts, and labile sulfide was absent. The reconstituted enzyme system was active in the hydroxylation of fatty acids (laurate), hydrocarbons (hexane, cyclohexane, and octane), drugs (benzphetamine, hexobarbital, and ethylmorphine), and aniline. The presence of both phosphatidylcholine and deoxycholate was necessary for maximal activity.

Two forms of highly purified liver microsomal cytochrome P-450, P-450LM2, and P-450LM4, have been titrated with standardized solutions of sodium dithionite under anaerobic conditions. Only 1 electron was consumed per hemin molecule, and reoxidation of the reduced heme is accompanied by the transfer of 1 electron to oxidizing agents such as cytochrome c, cytochrome b5, or potassium ferricyanide. The present results are in disagreement with earlier dithionite titrations and reoxidation experiments which indicate that liver microsomal cytochrome P-450 is a 2-electron acceptor, but are in accord with previous potentimetric titrations and product yield data which indicate that this hemeprotein is a 1-electron acceptor. The cause for the discrepancy between the present and previous results is not fully understood.