Leu505 of Nox2 is crucial for optimal p67phox‐dependent activation of the flavocytochrome b558 during phagocytic NADPH oxidase assembly

The role of Leu 505 of Nox2 on the NADPH oxidase activation process was investigated. An X-CGD PLB-985 cell line expressing the Leu505Arg Nox2 mutant was obtained, exactly mim- icking the phenotype of a previously published X91- CGD case. In a reconstituted cell-free system (CFS), NADPH oxidase and iodonitrotetrazolium (INT) re- ductase activities were partially maintained concom- itantly with a partial cytosolic factors translocation to the plasma membrane. This suggests that assembly and electron transfer from NADPH occurred par- tially in the Leu505Arg Nox2 mutant. Moreover, in a simplified CFS using purified mutant cytochrome b558 and recombinant p67 phox , p47 phox , and Rac1proteins, we found that the Km for NADPH and for NADH was about three times higher than those of purified WT cytochrome b558, indicating that the Leu505Arg mutation induces a slight decrease of the affinity for NADPH and NADH. In addition, oxidase activity can be extended by increasing the amount of p67 phox in the simplified CFS assay. However, the maximal reconstituted oxidase activity using WT pu- rified cytochrome b558 could not be reached using mutant cytochrome b558. In a three-dimensional model of the C-terminal tail of Nox2, Leu 505 appears to have a strategic position just at the entry of the NADPH binding site and at the end of the -helical loop (residues 484-504), a potential cytosolic factor binding region. The Leu505Arg mutation seems to affect the oxidase complex activation process through alteration of cytosolic factors binding and more particularly the p67 phox interaction with cyto- chrome b558, thus affecting NADPH access to its binding site. J. Leukoc. Biol. 81: 238-249; 2007.