Molecular cloning and regulation of a novel guinea pig cytochrome P450 (CYP3A20) which differs from guinea pig CYP3A14 in only two amino acid residues.

A full length cDNA clone of cytochrome P450, encoding 503 amino acid residues, was isolated from a male guinea pig liver cDNA library. The sequence was highly homologous to other members in the CYP3A subfamily and was designated CYP3A20. CYP3A20 and CYP3A14, another guinea pig CYP3A, shared 99.4% nucleotide and 99.6% deduced amino acid sequence homology. There were only two amino acid differences between CYP3A20 and CYP3A14. No significant induction of CYP3A20 mRNA in the livers from male guinea pigs treated with dexamethasone was observed by S1 mapping analysis although CYP3A14 mRNA was induced. The expression of CYP3A20 mRNA in the livers did not change between 5 and 10 weeks after birth while that of CYP3A14 mRNA in livers significantly increased at 10 weeks. This is the first report that the two highly resembling forms of cytochrome P450 display differently regulated expression from each other.