Class II Alcohol Dehydrogenase

Abstract

Enzymes are defined from their catalytic activity and generally they have a specific function in cell metabolism. Mammalian alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) was early isolated and classified (Vallee and Bazzone, 1983) and the function was stated as either to metabolize ethanol into acetaldehyde or to produce ethanol. In the mammals and especially in humans a large number of different ADHs have been identified, as different enzymes (classes), as different isozymes and as allelic forms (Jörnvall et al., this volume). For the different classes, solely class III ADH, glutathione-dependent formaldehyde dehydrogenase, has a specific function in the turnover of formaldehyde (Uotila and Koivusalo, 1986). Class I ADH, the main ethanol metabolizing enzyme in the liver, probably has an additional function in the metabolism of steroids and bile acids (human class I γγ Marschall et al., 1998) The extrahepatically expressed class IV ADH has been ascribed a function in the turnover of retinoids (Duester, 1998)KeywordsAlcohol DehydrogenaseHuman ClassFormaldehyde DehydrogenaseMouse ClassHorse Liver Alcohol DehydrogenaseThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.