Flexible docking-based molecular dynamics/steered molecular dynamics calculations of protein-protein contacts in a complex of cytochrome P450 1A2 with cytochrome b5.

Formation of transient complexes of cytochrome P450 (P450) with another protein of the endoplasmic reticulum membrane, cytochrome b5 (cyt b5), dictates the catalytic activities of several P450s. Therefore, we examined formation and binding modes of the complex of human P450 1A2 with cyt b5. Docking of soluble domains of these proteins was performed using an information-driven flexible docking approach implemented in HADDOCK. Stabilities of the five unique binding modes of the P450 1A2-cyt b5 complex yielded by HADDOCK were evaluated using explicit 10 ns molecular dynamics (MD) simulations in aqueous solution. Further, steered MD was used to compare the stability of the individual P450 1A2-cyt b5 binding modes. The best binding mode was characterized by a T-shaped mutual orientation of the porphyrin rings and a 10.7 Å distance between the two redox centers, thus satisfying the condition for a fast electron transfer. Mutagenesis studies and chemical cross-linking, which, in the absence of crystal structures, were previously used to deduce specific P450-cyt b5 interactions, indicated that the negatively charged convex surface of cyt b5 binds to the positively charged concave surface of P450. Our simulations further elaborate structural details of this interface, including nine ion pairs between R95, R100, R138, R362, K442, K455, and K465 side chains of P450 1A2 and E42, E43, E49, D65, D71, and heme propionates of cyt b5. The universal heme-centric system of internal coordinates was proposed to facilitate consistent classification of the orientation of the two porphyrins in any protein complex.