Arginine 91 Is Not Essential for Flavin Incorporation in Hepatic Cytochrome b5 Reductase

Abstract Cytochrome b 5 reductase (cb5r) catalyzes the transfer of reducing equivalents from NADH to cytochrome b 5 . Utilizing an efficient heterologous expression system that produces a histidine-tagged form of the hydrophilic, diaphorase domain of the enzyme, site-directed mutagenesis has been used to generate cb5r mutants with substitutions at position 91 in the primary sequence. Arginine 91 is an important residue in binding the FAD prosthetic group and part of a conserved “RxY T S xx S N ” sequence motif that is omnipresent in the “ferredoxin:NADP + reductase” family of flavoproteins. Arginine 91 was replaced with K, L, A, P, D, Q, and H residues, respectively, and all the mutant proteins purified to homogeneity. Individual mutants were expressed with variable efficiency and all exhibited molecular masses of approximately 32 kDa. With the exception of R91H, all the mutants retained visible absorption spectra typical of a flavoprotein, the former being produced as an apoprotein. Visible absorption spectra of R91A, L, and P were red shifted with maxima at 458 nm, while CD spectra indicated an altered FAD environment for all the mutants except R91K. Fluorescence spectra showed a reduced degree of intrinsic flavin fluorescence quenching for the R91K, A, and P, mutants, while thermal stability studies suggested all the mutants, except R91K, were somewhat less stable than the wild-type domain. Initial-rate kinetic measurements demonstrated that the mutants exhibited decreased NADH:ferricyanide reductase activity with the R91P mutant retaining the lowest activity, corresponding to a k cat of 283 s −1 and a K NADH m of 105 μM, when compared to the wild-type domain ( k cat = 800 s −1 K NADH m = 6 μM). These results demonstrate that R91 is not essential for FAD binding in cb5r; however, mutation of R91 perturbs the flavin environment and alters both diaphorase substrate recognition and utilization.