Conserved human cytochrome b5
(b5) residues D58 and D65 are critical for
interactions with CYP2E1 and CYP2C19, whereas E48 and E49 are essential for
stimulating the 17,20-lyase activity of CYP17A1. Here, we show that
b5 mutations E48G, E49G, D58G, and D65G have
reduced capacity to stimulate CYP3A4-catalyzed progesterone and testosterone
6β-hydroxylation or nifedipine oxidation. The
b5 double mutation D58G/D65G fails to stimulate
these reactions, similar to CYP2E1 and CYP2C19, whereas mutation E48G/E49G
retains 23–42% of wild-type stimulation. Neither mutation impairs the
activity stimulation of wild-type b5, nor does
mutation D58G/D65G impair the partial stimulation of mutations E48G or
E48G/E49G. For assays reconstituted with a single phospholipid, phosphatidyl
serine afforded the highest testosterone 6β-hydroxylase activity with
wild-type b5 but the poorest activity with
b5 mutation E48G/E49G, and the activity
stimulation of mutation E48G/E49G was lost at [NaCl] > 50 mM.
Cross-linking of CYP3A4 and b5 decreased in the
order wild-type > E48G/E49G > D58G/D65G and varied with
phospholipid. We conclude that two b5 acidic
surfaces, primarily the domain including residues D58-D65, participate in the
stimulation of CYP3A4 activities. Our data suggest that a minor population of
CYP3A4 molecules remains sensitive to b5 mutation
E48G/E49G, consistent with phospholipid-dependent conformational heterogeneity
of CYP3A4.