PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - Santosh Kumar AU - Hong Liu AU - James R. Halpert TI - Engineering of Cytochrome P450 3A4 for Enhanced Peroxide-Mediated Substrate Oxidation Using Directed Evolution and Site-Directed Mutagenesis AID - 10.1124/dmd.106.012054 DP - 2006 Dec 01 TA - Drug Metabolism and Disposition PG - 1958--1965 VI - 34 IP - 12 4099 - http://dmd.aspetjournals.org/content/34/12/1958.short 4100 - http://dmd.aspetjournals.org/content/34/12/1958.full SO - Drug Metab Dispos2006 Dec 01; 34 AB - CYP3A4 has been subjected to random and site-directed mutagenesis to enhance peroxide-supported metabolism of several substrates. Initially, a high-throughput screening method using whole cell suspensions was developed for H2O2-supported oxidation of 7-benzyloxyquinoline. Random mutagenesis by error-prone polymerase chain reaction and activity screening yielded several CYP3A4 mutants with enhanced activity. L216W and F228I showed a 3-fold decrease in Km, HOOH and a 2.5-fold increase in kcat/Km, HOOH compared with CYP3A4. Subsequently, T309V and T309A were created based on the observation that T309V in CYP2D6 has enhanced cumene hydroperoxide (CuOOH)-supported activity. T309V and T309A showed a >6- and 5-fold higher kcat/Km, CuOOH than CYP3A4, respectively. Interestingly, L216W and F228I also exhibited, respectively, a >4- and a >3-fold higher kcat/Km, CuOOH than CYP3A4. Therefore, several multiple mutants were constructed from rationally designed and randomly isolated mutants; among them, F228I/T309A showed an 11-fold higher kcat/Km, CuOOH than CYP3A4. Addition of cytochrome b5, which is known to stimulate peroxide-supported activity, enhanced the kcat/Km, CuOOH of CYP3A4 by 4- to 7-fold. When the mutants were tested with other substrates, T309V and T433S showed enhanced kcat/Km, CuOOH with 7-benzyloxy-4-(trifluoromethyl)coumarin and testosterone, respectively, compared with CYP3A4. In addition, in the presence of cytochrome b5, T433S has the potential to produce milligram quantities of 6β-hydroxytestosterone through peroxide-supported oxidation. In conclusion, a combination of random and site-directed mutagenesis approaches yielded CYP3A4 enzymes with enhanced peroxide-supported metabolism of several substrates. The American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics