Purification and characterization of a form of cytochrome P-450 with high specificity for aflatoxin B1 from 3-methylcholanthrene-treated hamster liver.

A form of cytochrome P-450 highly active in inducing mutagenicity of aflatoxin B1 was purified to a specific content of 15.1 nmol/mg of protein from 3-methylcholanthrene-treated hamster liver. This species of cytochrome P-450, having its absorption maximum at 448.5 nm in carbon monoxide-complex of reduced form and low spin ferric ion, is of molecular weight of 56,000 and distinctly different in physicochemical and catalytic properties from major forms of cytochrome P-450 purified from phenobarbital- or 3-methylcholanthrene-treated rat liver. In the induction of aflatoxin B1 mutagenicity, this hamster cytochrome P-450 is 50 times more potent than those from rat liver.