Amino acid sequence of COOH-terminal 20K Da fragment from pig liver microsomal NADPH-cytochrome P-450 reductase.

We have determined the complete amino acid sequence of a 20K Da COOH-terminal fragment of porcine NADPH-cytochrome P-450 reductase. The 20K Da fragment is probably produced by a proteolytic cleavage of the intact protein in porcine liver microsomes, and since the cleavage does not affect enzymatic activity, the fragment has been studied as a distinct domain. The sequence comprises 175 amino acids including three cysteine residues, one of which has been previously identified as protected by NADPH from S-carboxymethylation. The NADPH-protected cysteine lies in a stretch of 12 residues with partial homology to glutathione reductase, and is adjacent to a hydrophobic region containing a glycine-rich stretch homologous to other FAD-containing proteins. The predicted secondary structure over this entire region is beta-sheet/beta-turn/beta-sheet/alpha-helix/beta-sheet/beta-turn/alpha-h elix corresponding to hydrophobic residues 21-28/glycine-rich residues 29-33/residues 34-38/residues 39-54/residues 56-61/NADPH-protected cysteine residues 62-78/residues 71-82. It is possible that the 20K Da domain provided a significant portion of the sequence responsible for binding FAD and NADPH in the intact enzyme. This data provides a basis for further active site studies.