Thermodynamic Fidelity of the Mammalian Cytochrome P450 2B4 Active Site in Binding Substrates and Inhibitors

Phenylalanine Residues in the Active Site of CYP2E1 Participate in Determining the Binding Orientation and Metabolism-Dependent Genotoxicity of Aromatic Compounds

The composition of amino acids forming the active site of a CYP enzyme is impactful in its substrate selectivity. For CYP2E1, the role of PHE residues in the formation of effective binding orientations for its aromatic substrates remains unclear. In this study, molecular docking and molecular dynamics analysis were performed to reflect the interactions between PHEs in the active site of human CYP2E1 and various aromatic compounds known as its substrates. The results indicated that the orientation of 1-methylpyrene (1-MP) in the active site was highly determined by the presence of PHEs, PHE478 contributing to the binding free energy most significantly. Moreover, by building a random forest model the relationship between each of 19 molecular descriptors of polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) compounds (from molecular docking, quantum mechanics, and physicochemical properties) and their human CYP2E1-dependent mutagenicityas established mostly in our lab, was investigated. The presence of PHEs did not appear to significantly modify the electronic or structural feature of each bound ligand (PCB), instead, the flexibility of the conformation of PHEs contributed substantially to the effective binding energy and orientation. It is supposed that PHE residues adjust their own conformation to permit a suitablly shaped cavity for holding the ligand and forming its orientation as favorable for a biochemical reaction. This study has provided some insights into the role of PHEs in guiding the interactive adaptation of the active site of human CYP2E1 for the binding and metabolism of aromatic substrates.

Functional effects of protein variants

Genetic and other variations frequently affect protein functions. Scientific articles can contain confusing descriptions about which function or property is affected, and in many cases the statements are pure speculation without any experimental evidence. To clarify functional effects of protein variations of genetic or non-genetic origin, a systematic conceptualisation and framework are introduced. This framework describes protein functional effects on abundance, activity, specificity and affinity, along with countermeasures, which allow cells, tissues and organisms to tolerate, avoid, repair, attenuate or resist (TARAR) the effects. Effects on abundance discussed include gene dosage, restricted expression, mis-localisation and degradation. Enzymopathies, effects on kinetics, allostery and regulation of protein activity are subtopics for the effects of variants on activity. Variation outcomes on specificity and affinity comprise promiscuity, specificity, affinity and moonlighting. TARAR mechanisms redress variations with active and passive processes including chaperones, redundancy, robustness, canalisation and metabolic and signalling rewiring. A framework for pragmatic protein function analysis and presentation is introduced. All of the mechanisms and effects are described along with representative examples, most often in relation to diseases. In addition, protein function is discussed from evolutionary point of view. Application of the presented framework facilitates unambiguous, detailed and specific description of functional effects and their systematic study.

Coupling Oxygen Consumption with Hydrocarbon Oxidation in Bacterial Multicomponent Monooxygenases

A fundamental goal in catalysis is the coupling of multiple reactions to yield a desired product. Enzymes have evolved elegant approaches to address this grand challenge. A salient example is the biological conversion of methane to methanol catalyzed by soluble methane monooxygenase (sMMO), a member of the bacterial multicomponent monooxygenase (BMM) superfamily. sMMO is a dynamic protein complex of three components: a hydroxylase, a reductase, and a regulatory protein. The active site, a carboxylate-rich non-heme diiron center, is buried inside the 251 kDa hydroxylase component. The enzyme processes four substrates: O2, protons, electrons, and methane. To couple O2 activation to methane oxidation, timely control of substrate access to the active site is critical. Recent studies of sMMO, as well as its homologues in the BMM superfamily, have begun to unravel the mechanism. The emerging and unifying picture reveals that each substrate gains access to the active site along a specific pathway through the hydroxylase. Electrons and protons are delivered via a three-amino-acid pore located adjacent to the diiron center; O2 migrates via a series of hydrophobic cavities; and hydrocarbon substrates reach the active site through a channel or linked set of cavities. The gating of these pathways mediates entry of each substrate to the diiron active site in a timed sequence and is coordinated by dynamic interactions with the other component proteins. The result is coupling of dioxygen consumption with hydrocarbon oxidation, avoiding unproductive oxidation of the reductant rather than the desired hydrocarbon. To initiate catalysis, the reductase delivers two electrons to the diiron(III) center by binding over the pore of the hydroxylase. The regulatory component then displaces the reductase, docking onto the same surface of the hydroxylase. Formation of the hydroxylase-regulatory component complex (i) induces conformational changes of pore residues that may bring protons to the active site; (ii) connects hydrophobic cavities in the hydroxylase leading from the exterior to the diiron active site, providing a pathway for O2 and methane, in the case of sMMO, to the reduced diiron center for O2 activation and substrate hydroxylation; (iii) closes the pore, as well as a channel in the case of four-component BMM enzymes, restricting proton access to the diiron center during formation of "Fe2O2" intermediates required for hydrocarbon oxidation; and (iv) inhibits undesired electron transfer to the Fe2O2 intermediates by blocking reductase binding during O2 activation. This mechanism is quite different from that adopted by cytochromes P450, a large class of heme-containing monooxygenases that catalyze reactions very similar to those catalyzed by the BMM enzymes. Understanding the timed enzyme control of substrate access has implications for designing artificial catalysts. To achieve multiple turnovers and tight coupling, synthetic models must also control substrate access, a major challenge considering that nature requires large, multimeric, dynamic protein complexes to accomplish this feat.

Functional importance of a peripheral pocket in mammalian cytochrome P450 2B enzymes

The functional importance of a peripheral pocket found in previously published X-ray crystal structures of CYP2B4 and CYP2B6 was probed using a biophysical approach. Introduction of tryptophan within the pocket of CYP2B4 at F202 or I241 leads to marked impairment of 7-ethoxy-4-(trifluoromethyl)coumarin (7-EFC) or 7-benzyloxyresorufin O-dealkylation efficiency; a similar substitution at F195, near the surface access to the pocket, does not affect these activities. The analogous CYP2B6 F202W mutant is inactive in the 7-EFC O-dealkylation assay. The stoichiometry of 7-EFC deethylation suggested that the decreased activity of F202W and I241W in CYP2B4 and lack of activity of F202W in CYP2B6 coincided with a sharp increase in the flux of reducing equivalents through the oxidase shunt to produce excess water. The results indicate that the chemical identity of residues within this peripheral pocket, but not at the mouth of the pocket, is important in substrate turnover and redox coupling, likely through effects on active site topology.

Combining a Clostridial enzyme exhibiting unusual active site plasticity with a remarkably facile sigmatropic rearrangement: rapid, stereocontrolled entry into densely functionalized fluorinated phosphonates for chemical biology

Described is an efficient stereocontrolled route into valuable, densely functionalized fluorinated phosphonates that takes advantage of (i) a Clostridial enzyme to set the absolute stereochemistry and (ii) a new [3,3]-sigmatropic rearrangement of the thiono-Claisen variety that is among the fastest sigmatropic rearrangements yet reported. Here, a pronounced rate enhancement is achieved by distal fluorination. This rearrangement is completely stereoretentive, parlaying the enzymatically established β-C-O stereochemistry in the substrate into the δ-C-S stereochemistry in the product. The final products are of interest to chemical biology, with a platform for Zn-aminopeptidase A inhibitors being constructed here. The enzyme, Clostridium acetobutylicum (CaADH), recently expressed by our group, reduces a spectrum of γ,δ-unsaturated β-keto-α,α-difluorophosphonate esters (93-99% ee; 10 examples). The resultant β-hydroxy-α,α-difluorophosphonates possess the "L"-stereochemistry, opposite to that previously observed for the CaADH-reduction of ω-keto carboxylate esters ("D"), indicating an unusual active site plasticity. For the thiono-Claisen rearrangement, a notable structure-reactivity relationship is observed. Measured rate constants vary by over 3 orders of magnitude, depending upon thiono-ester structure. Temperature-dependent kinetics reveal an unusually favorable entropy of activation (ΔS(‡) = 14.5 ± 0.6 e.u.). Most notably, a 400-fold rate enhancement is seen upon fluorination of the distal arene ring, arising from favorable enthalpic (ΔΔH(‡) = -2.3 kcal/mol) and entropic (ΔΔS(‡) = 4 e.u., i.e. 1.2 kcal/mol at rt) contributions. The unusual active site plasticity seen here is expected to drive structural biology studies on CaADH, while the exceptionally facile sigmatropic rearrangement is expected to drive computational studies to elucidate its underlying entropic and enthalpic basis.

Mutational robustness accelerates the origin of novel RNA phenotypes through phenotypic plasticity

Novel phenotypes can originate either through mutations in existing genotypes or through phenotypic plasticity, the ability of one genotype to form multiple phenotypes. From molecules to organisms, plasticity is a ubiquitous feature of life, and a potential source of exaptations, adaptive traits that originated for nonadaptive reasons. Another ubiquitous feature is robustness to mutations, although it is unknown whether such robustness helps or hinders the origin of new phenotypes through plasticity. RNA is ideal to address this question, because it shows extensive plasticity in its secondary structure phenotypes, a consequence of their continual folding and unfolding, and these phenotypes have important biological functions. Moreover, RNA is to some extent robust to mutations. This robustness structures RNA genotype space into myriad connected networks of genotypes with the same phenotype, and it influences the dynamics of evolving populations on a genotype network. In this study I show that both effects help accelerate the exploration of novel phenotypes through plasticity. My observations are based on many RNA molecules sampled at random from RNA sequence space, and on 30 biological RNA molecules. They are thus not only a generic feature of RNA sequence space but are relevant for the molecular evolution of biological RNA.

Structure and function of heme proteins in non-native states: a mini-review

Heme proteins perform various biological functions ranging from electron transfer, oxygen binding and transport, catalysis, to signaling. Although adopting proper native states is very important for these functions, progresses in representative heme proteins, including cytochrome c (cyt c), cytochrome b5 (cyt b5), myoglobin (Mb), neuroglobin (Ngb), cytochrome P450 (CYP) and heme-based sensor proteins such as CO sensor CooA, showed that various native functions, or new functions evolved, are also closely associated with non-native states. The structure and function relationship of heme proteins in non-native states is thus as important as that in native states for elucidating the precise roles of heme proteins in biological systems.

The role of flexibility and conformational selection in the binding promiscuity of PDZ domains

In molecular recognition, it is often the case that ligand binding is coupled to conformational change in one or both of the binding partners. Two hypotheses describe the limiting cases involved; the first is the induced fit and the second is the conformational selection model. The conformational selection model requires that the protein adopts conformations that are similar to the ligand-bound conformation in the absence of ligand, whilst the induced-fit model predicts that the ligand-bound conformation of the protein is only accessible when the ligand is actually bound. The flexibility of the apo protein clearly plays a major role in these interpretations. For many proteins involved in signaling pathways there is the added complication that they are often promiscuous in that they are capable of binding to different ligand partners. The relationship between protein flexibility and promiscuity is an area of active research and is perhaps best exemplified by the PDZ domain family of proteins. In this study we use molecular dynamics simulations to examine the relationship between flexibility and promiscuity in five PDZ domains: the human Dvl2 (Dishevelled-2) PDZ domain, the human Erbin PDZ domain, the PDZ1 domain of InaD (inactivation no after-potential D protein) from fruit fly, the PDZ7 domain of GRIP1 (glutamate receptor interacting protein 1) from rat and the PDZ2 domain of PTP-BL (protein tyrosine phosphatase) from mouse. We show that despite their high structural similarity, the PDZ binding sites have significantly different dynamics. Importantly, the degree of binding pocket flexibility was found to be closely related to the various characteristics of peptide binding specificity and promiscuity of the five PDZ domains. Our findings suggest that the intrinsic motions of the apo structures play a key role in distinguishing functional properties of different PDZ domains and allow us to make predictions that can be experimentally tested.

Proteins that are capable of binding to many different ligands are said to have broad specificity. This is sometimes also referred to as promiscuity. Whether a protein is promiscuous or not can sometimes be readily explained by the structure of the protein and the ligand in terms of electrostatic and steric effects. Sometimes however, this simple interpretation can struggle to explain the experimentally observed data. A prominent case in point is the PDZ domains. These small protein domains bind to unstructured regions of other proteins and are involved in many signaling pathways. Some PDZ domains appear to be more promiscuous than others, but this has been difficult to explain purely on the basis of the composition of residues in the binding groove. In this work we examine the dynamics and conformational flexibility of five key PDZ domains and demonstrate that despite similar folds, these proteins can exhibit quite different dynamics. Furthermore the difference in the dynamic behavior appears to correlate with the observed promiscuity. Our findings suggest that knowledge of the dynamic behavior of the PDZs can be used to rationalize the extent of expected promiscuity. Such knowledge will be critical for drug design against PDZ domains.

Protein dynamics governed by interfaces of high polarity and low packing density

The folding pathway, three-dimensional structure and intrinsic dynamics of proteins are governed by their amino acid sequences. Internal protein surfaces with physicochemical properties appropriate to modulate conformational fluctuations could play important roles in folding and dynamics. We show here that proteins contain buried interfaces of high polarity and low packing density, coined as LIPs: Light Interfaces of high Polarity, whose physicochemical properties make them unstable. The structures of well-characterized equilibrium and kinetic folding intermediates indicate that the LIPs of the corresponding native proteins fold late and are involved in local unfolding events. Importantly, LIPs can be identified using very fast and uncomplicated computational analysis of protein three-dimensional structures, which provides an easy way to delineate the protein segments involved in dynamics. Since LIPs can be retained while the sequences of the interacting segments diverge significantly, proteins could in principle evolve new functional features reusing pre-existing encoded dynamics. Large-scale identification of LIPS may contribute to understanding evolutionary constraints of proteins and the way protein intrinsic dynamics are encoded.

Evolutionary dynamics on protein bi-stability landscapes can potentially resolve adaptive conflicts

Experimental studies have shown that some proteins exist in two alternative native-state conformations. It has been proposed that such bi-stable proteins can potentially function as evolutionary bridges at the interface between two neutral networks of protein sequences that fold uniquely into the two different native conformations. Under adaptive conflict scenarios, bi-stable proteins may be of particular advantage if they simultaneously provide two beneficial biological functions. However, computational models that simulate protein structure evolution do not yet recognize the importance of bi-stability. Here we use a biophysical model to analyze sequence space to identify bi-stable or multi-stable proteins with two or more equally stable native-state structures. The inclusion of such proteins enhances phenotype connectivity between neutral networks in sequence space. Consideration of the sequence space neighborhood of bridge proteins revealed that bi-stability decreases gradually with each mutation that takes the sequence further away from an exactly bi-stable protein. With relaxed selection pressures, we found that bi-stable proteins in our model are highly successful under simulated adaptive conflict. Inspired by these model predictions, we developed a method to identify real proteins in the PDB with bridge-like properties, and have verified a clear bi-stability gradient for a series of mutants studied by Alexander et al. (Proc Nat Acad Sci USA 2009, 106:21149–21154) that connect two sequences that fold uniquely into two different native structures via a bridge-like intermediate mutant sequence. Based on these findings, new testable predictions for future studies on protein bi-stability and evolution are discussed.

Proteins are essential molecules for performing a majority of functions in all biological systems. These functions often depend on the three-dimensional structures of proteins. Here, we investigate a fundamental question in molecular evolution: how can proteins acquire new advantageous structures via mutations while not sacrificing their existing structures that are still needed? Some authors have suggested that the same protein may adopt two or more alternative structures, switch between them and thus perform different functions with each of the alternative structures. Intuitively, such a protein could provide an evolutionary compromise between conflicting demands for existing and new protein structures. Yet no theoretical study has systematically tackled the biophysical basis of such compromises during evolutionary processes. Here we devise a model of evolution that specifically recognizes protein molecules that can exist in several different stable structures. Our model demonstrates that proteins can indeed utilize multiple structures to satisfy conflicting evolutionary requirements. In light of these results, we identify data from known protein structures that are consistent with our predictions and suggest novel directions for future investigation.

Cytochrome P450 2B diversity and dietary novelty in the herbivorous, desert woodrat (Neotoma lepida)

Detoxification enzymes play a key role in plant-herbivore interactions, contributing to the on-going evolution of ecosystem functional diversity. Mammalian detoxification systems have been well studied by the medical and pharmacological industries to understand human drug metabolism; however, little is known of the mechanisms employed by wild herbivores to metabolize toxic plant secondary compounds. Using a wild rodent herbivore, the desert woodrat (Neotoma lepida), we investigated genomic structural variation, sequence variability, and expression patterns in a multigene subfamily involved in xenobiotic metabolism, cytochrome P450 2B (CYP2B). We hypothesized that differences in CYP2B expression and sequence diversity could explain differential abilities of woodrat populations to consume native plant toxins. Woodrats from two distinct populations were fed diets supplemented with either juniper (Juniperus osteosperma) or creosote bush (Larrea tridentata), plants consumed by woodrats in their respective desert habitats. We used Southern blot and quantitative PCR to determine that the genomic copy number of CYP2B in both populations was equivalent, and similar in number to known rodent copy number. We compared CYP2B expression patterns and sequence diversity using cloned hepatic CYP2B cDNA. The resulting sequences were very diverse, and clustered into four major clades by amino acid similarity. Sequences from the experimental treatments were distributed non-randomly across a CYP2B tree, indicating unique expression patterns from woodrats on different diets and from different habitats. Furthermore, within each major CYP2B clade, sequences shared a unique combination of amino acid residues at 13 sites throughout the protein known to be important for CYP2B enzyme function, implying differences in the function of each major CYP2B variant. This work is the most comprehensive investigation of the genetic diversity of a detoxification enzyme subfamily in a wild mammalian herbivore, and contributes an initial genetic framework to our understanding of how a wild herbivore responds to critical changes in its diet.

Double electron-electron resonance shows cytochrome P450cam undergoes a conformational change in solution upon binding substrate

Although cytochrome P450cam from Pseudomonas putida, the archetype for all heme monooxygenases, has long been known to have a closed active site, recent reports show that the enzyme can also be crystallized in at least two clusters of open conformations. This suggests that the enzyme may undergo significant conformational changes during substrate binding and catalytic turnover. However, these conformations were observed in the crystalline state, and information is needed about the conformations that are populated in solution. In this study, double electron-electron resonance experiments were performed to observe substrate-induced changes in distance as measured by the dipolar coupling between spin labels introduced onto the surface of the enzyme on opposite sides of the substrate access channel. The double electron-electron resonance data show a decrease of 0.8 nm in the distance between spin labels placed at S48C and S190C upon binding the substrate camphor. A rotamer distribution model based on the crystal structures adequately describes the observed distance distributions. These results demonstrate conclusively that, in the physiologically relevant solution state, the substrate-free enzyme exists in the open P450cam-O conformation and that camphor binding results in conversion to the closed P450cam-C form. This approach should be useful for investigating many other P450s, including mammalian forms, in which the role of conformational change is of central importance but not well understood.

NMR-derived models of amidopyrine and its metabolites in complexes with rabbit cytochrome P450 2B4 reveal a structural mechanism of sequential N-dealkylation

To understand the molecular basis of sequential N-dealkylation by cytochrome P450 2B enzymes, we studied the binding of amidopyrine (AP) as well as the metabolites of this reaction, desmethylamidopyrine (DMAP) and aminoantipyrine (AAP), using the X-ray crystal structure of rabbit P450 2B4 and two nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) techniques: saturation transfer difference (STD) spectroscopy and longitudinal (T(1)) relaxation NMR. Results of STD NMR of AP and its metabolites bound to P450 2B4 were similar, suggesting that they occupy similar niches within the enzyme's active site. The model-dependent relaxation rates (R(M)) determined from T(1) relaxation NMR of AP and DMAP suggest that the N-linked methyl is closest to the heme. To determine the orientation(s) of AP and its metabolites within the P450 2B4 active site, we used distances calculated from the relaxation rates to constrain the metabolites to the X-ray crystal structure of P450 2B4. Simulated annealing of the complex revealed that the metabolites do indeed occupy similar hydrophobic pockets within the active site, while the N-linked methyls are free to rotate between two binding modes. From these bound structures, a model of N-demethylation in which the N-linked methyl functional groups rotate between catalytic and noncatalytic positions was developed. This study is the first to provide a structural model of a drug and its metabolites complexed to a cytochrome P450 based on NMR and to provide a structural mechanism for how a drug can undergo sequential oxidations without unbinding. The rotation of the amide functional group might represent a common structural mechanism for N-dealkylation reactions for other drugs such as the local anesthetic lidocaine.

Plasticity of cytochrome P450 2B4 as investigated by hydrogen-deuterium exchange mass spectrometry and X-ray crystallography

Crystal structures of the xenobiotic metabolizing cytochrome P450 2B4 have demonstrated markedly different conformations in the presence of imidazole inhibitors or in the absence of ligand. However, knowledge of the plasticity of the enzyme in solution has remained scant. Thus, hydrogen-deuterium exchange mass spectrometry (DXMS) was utilized to probe the conformations of ligand-free P450 2B4 and the complex with 4-(4-chlorophenyl)imidazole (4-CPI) or 1-biphenyl-4-methyl-1H-imidazole (1-PBI). The results of DXMS indicate that the binding of 4-CPI slowed the hydrogen-deuterium exchange rate over the B'- and C-helices and portions of the F-G-helix cassette compared with P450 2B4 in the absence of ligands. In contrast, there was little difference between the ligand-free and 1-PBI-bound exchange sets. In addition, DXMS suggests that the ligand-free P450 2B4 is predominantly open in solution. Interestingly, a new high resolution structure of ligand-free P450 2B4 was obtained in a closed conformation very similar to the 4-CPI complex. Molecular dynamics simulations performed with the closed ligand-free structure as the starting point were used to probe the energetically accessible conformations of P450 2B4. The simulations were found to equilibrate to a conformation resembling the 1-PBI-bound P450 2B4 crystal structure. The results indicate that conformational changes observed in available crystal structures of the promiscuous xenobiotic metabolizing cytochrome P450 2B4 are consistent with its solution structural behavior.

Molecular modeling of human cytochrome P450 2W1 and its interactions with substrates

The human cytochrome P450 2W1 (CYP2W1) was categorized into the so-called "orphan" CYPs because of its unknown enzymatic function. However, recent studies showed that the recombinant CYP2W1 exhibited broad catalytic activity towards several chemicals. Furthermore, this enzyme was selectively expressed in some forms of cancers, whereas a very low expression was found in human normal issues. These render CYP2W1 as a potential drug target for cancer therapy. At present, however, little information is available on the active site topology and the substrate binding modes of CYP2W1. In this study, the three-dimensional model of CYP2W1 was constructed using the homology modeling method. Two known substrates, benzphetamine and indole, were then docked into the active site, and refined by molecular dynamics simulations. The interaction energy between the substrates and the enzyme was calculated and analyzed by using the MM-GBSA method. The results indicated that the constructed CYP2W1 model can account for the regioselectivity of this enzyme towards the known substrates and van der Waals interactions were the driving force for the substrate binding. Several key residues were identified to be responsible for the binding of indole and benzphetamine with CYP2W1. These findings provide useful information for the detailed characterization of the biological roles of CYP2W1 and structure-based drug design of this enzyme.

Protein dynamism and evolvability

The traditional view that proteins possess absolute functional specificity and a single, fixed structure conflicts with their marked ability to adapt and evolve new functions and structures. We consider an alternative, "avant-garde view" in which proteins are conformationally dynamic and exhibit functional promiscuity. We surmise that these properties are the foundation stones of protein evolvability; they facilitate the divergence of new functions within existing folds and the evolution of entirely new folds. Packing modes of proteins also affect their evolvability, and poorly packed, disordered, and conformationally diverse proteins may exhibit high evolvability. This dynamic view of protein structure, function, and evolvability is extrapolated to describe hypothetical scenarios for the evolution of the early proteins and future research directions in the area of protein dynamism and evolution.

Evaluating the potential for halogen bonding in the oxyanion hole of ketosteroid isomerase using unnatural amino acid mutagenesis

There has recently been an increasing interest in controlling macromolecular conformations and interactions through halogen bonding. Halogen bonds are favorable electrostatic interactions between polarized, electropositive chlorine, bromine, or iodine atoms and electronegative atoms such as oxygen or nitrogen. These interactions have been likened to hydrogen bonds in terms of their favored acceptor molecules, their geometries, and their energetics. We asked whether a halogen bond could replace a hydrogen bond in the oxyanion hole of ketosteroid isomerase, using semisynthetic enzymes containing para-halogenated phenylalanine derivatives to replace the tyrosine hydrogen bond donor. Formation of a halogen bond to the oxyanion in the transition state would be expected to rescue the effects of mutation to phenylalanine, but all of the halogenated enzymes were comparable in activity to the phenylalanine mutant. We conclude that, at least in this active site, a halogen bond cannot functionally replace a hydrogen bond.

Substrate binding to cytochromes P450

P450s have attracted tremendous attention owing to not only their involvement in the metabolism of drug molecules and endogenous substrates but also the unusual nature of the reaction they catalyze, namely, the oxidation of unactivated C-H bonds. The binding of substrates to P450s, which is usually viewed as the first step in the catalytic cycle, has been studied extensively via a variety of biochemical and biophysical approaches. These studies were directed towards answering different questions related to P450s, including mechanism of oxidation, substrate properties, unusual substrate oxidation kinetics, function, and active-site features. Some of the substrate binding studies extending over a period of more than 40 years of dedicated work have been summarized in this review and categorized by the techniques employed in the binding studies.