Identification and localization of amino acid substitutions between two phenobarbital-inducible rat hepatic microsomal cytochromes P-450 by micro sequence analyses

Two isozymes of rat liver microsomal cytochrome P-450--P-450b and P-450e--were compared by micro sequence analyses of their NH2 termini and tryptic fragments. These two phenobarbital-inducible hemoproteins, which are immunochemically indistinguishable with antibody against cytochrome P-450b, have extensive sequence homology. Automated Edman degradation of the native proteins revealed identical amino acids for the first 35 residues. Sequence determinations of the tryptic peptides, which constitute approximately 75% of each protein molecule, have thus far shown 10 amino acid differences between the two isozymes. Results of our amino acid sequence analyses established that two of the cDNAs, pcP-450pb1 and pcP-450pb4, reported by Fujii-Kuriyama et al. [Fujii-Kuriyama, Y., Mizukami, Y., Kamajiri, K., Sogawa, K. & Muramatsu, M. (1982) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 79, 2793-2797] encode cytochrome P-450b whereas pcP-450pb2, a third cDNA whose nucleotide sequence differed slightly from that of the other two (six amino acid substitutions), encodes cytochrome P-450e. In addition to establishing the identity of these cloned cDNAs we provide direct evidence for seven additional amino acid differences between cytochromes P-450b and P-450e that occur beyond the region (Arg358) encoded by the cloned cDNA for cytochrome P-450e. Together, the amino acid sequences determined by micro sequence analysis and recombinant DNA techniques reveal 13 amino acid differences between these two isozymes. This report highlights the complementary nature of two different molecular approaches to elucidation of the amino acid sequences of isozymes with extensive structural homology.