Structural flexibility and functional versatility of mammalian P450 enzymes

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Abstract
P450 enzymes have evolved into a large superfamily that displays great diversity in substrate and product specificities by fixing the natural amino acid substitutions with high frequency. Site-directed mutagenesis has been used to correlate the substitutions with the diverse specificities in various P450s. As a result, the common residues that determine the specificities of various mammalian P450s have been identified and aligned to the corresponding residues in the substrate-heme pocket of the 3-dimensional structures of bacterial P450s. The substrate-heme pocket appears to be structurally variable so that only a minor substitution (Ala -> -> Val, for example) at the critical positions is enough to define the altered specificity. Thus, the structural variability of the P450s provides the inherent versatility in acquiring a novel activity. Recent mutational studies indicate that the side chain size is the major determining factor of specificity, outweighing other factors such as polarity. Further understa...

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