THE NH2-TERMINAL REGION OF RABBIT CYP2E1 IS NOT ESSENTIAL FOR INTERACTION WITH NADPH-CYTOCHROME P450 REDUCTASE

Recently we reported that electrostatic forces interfere with the formation of the NADPH-cytochrome P450 reductase/cytochrome P450 electron transfer complex and suggested that this complex is formed by the attraction of the complementary hydrophobic patches (Voznesensky, A., and Schenkman,J.(1994) 269 J.Biol.Chem, 15724-1573). In this report we evaluate the sole of the NH2-terminal hydrophobic region of CYP2E1 in the interaction with the reductase by comparing ionic strength dependence of the reduction of the full-length and truncated Delta 3-29 CYP2E1. Increasing ionic strength stimulates reduction of both full-length and truncated CYP2E1. The neutralization of electrostatic interactions by increasing ionic strength revealed no impairment of the Delta 3-29 CYP2E1 reduction compared to that of the full-length CYP2E1, indicating that the NH2-terminal region is not essential for the interaction of the cytochrome with the reductase. (C) 1994 Academic Press, Inc.