Cytochrome C (Fe2+) as a competitive inhibitor of NADPH-dependent reduction of cytochrome P450 LM2: locating protein-protein interaction sites in microsomal electron carriers.

The kinetics of NADPH-dependent reduction of cytochrome P450 LM2 in the soluble monomeric reconstituted system in the absence of any substrate is shown to be monophasic. We show that ferrous cytochrome c acts as a competitive inhibitor of the reduction. In the presence of 1 mM benzphetamine an additional extremely fast phase was observed. Under these conditions ferrous cytochrome c was found to be a competitive inhibitor of the slow phase of the reduction process, which accounted for 80% of the total reduction amplitude. Inhibition experiments yield a dissociation constant for the LM2-reductase complex of 3.0 +/- 1.5 microM. This constant was the same both in the presence and in the absence of benzphetamine. Based on these data we conclude that cytochromes P450 and c bind to the same center on the NADPH-cytochrome P450 reductase molecule. Comparative analysis of the amino acid sequences reveals a detectable similarity between cytochrome c and cytochrome P450 LM2 at positions 68-87 and 121-145, respectively. In addition, a substantial similarity was shown for sequence fragments 204-224 of NADPH-cytochrome P450 reductase and 40-60 of cytochrome b5. Based on these findings a hypothesis for the location of the centers of intermolecular interactions on the molecules of cytochrome P450 LM2 and NADPH-cytochrome P450 reductase is proposed.