Alcohol dehydrogenase class 4 mu/sigma chain is an
enzyme
An enzyme () is a protein that acts as a biological catalyst by accelerating chemical reactions. The molecules upon which enzymes may act are called substrate (chemistry), substrates, and the enzyme converts the substrates into different mol ...
that in humans is encoded by the ''ADH7''
gene
In biology, the word gene has two meanings. The Mendelian gene is a basic unit of heredity. The molecular gene is a sequence of nucleotides in DNA that is transcribed to produce a functional RNA. There are two types of molecular genes: protei ...
.
Function
This gene encodes class IV
alcohol dehydrogenase
Alcohol dehydrogenases (ADH) () are a group of dehydrogenase enzymes that occur in many organisms and facilitate the interconversion between alcohols and aldehydes or ketones with the reduction of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD+) to N ...
7 mu or sigma subunit, which is a member of the alcohol dehydrogenase family. Members of this family
metabolize
Metabolism (, from ''metabolē'', "change") is the set of life-sustaining chemical reactions in organisms. The three main functions of metabolism are: the conversion of the energy in food to energy available to run cellular processes; the ...
a wide variety of
substrate
Substrate may refer to:
Physical layers
*Substrate (biology), the natural environment in which an organism lives, or the surface or medium on which an organism grows or is attached
** Substrate (aquatic environment), the earthy material that exi ...
s, including
ethanol
Ethanol (also called ethyl alcohol, grain alcohol, drinking alcohol, or simply alcohol) is an organic compound with the chemical formula . It is an Alcohol (chemistry), alcohol, with its formula also written as , or EtOH, where Et is the ps ...
,
retinol
Retinol, also called vitamin A1, is a fat-soluble vitamin in the vitamin A family that is found in food and used as a dietary supplement. Retinol or other forms of vitamin A are needed for vision, cellular development, maintenance of skin and ...
, other
aliphatic
In organic chemistry, hydrocarbons ( compounds composed solely of carbon and hydrogen) are divided into two classes: aromatic compounds and aliphatic compounds (; G. ''aleiphar'', fat, oil). Aliphatic compounds can be saturated (in which all ...
alcohols,
hydroxysteroids, and
lipid peroxidation
Lipid peroxidation, or lipid oxidation, is a complex chemical process that leads to oxidative degradation of lipids, resulting in the formation of peroxide and hydroperoxide derivatives.{{Cite journal , last1=Ayala , first1=Antonio , last2=Muñoz ...
products. The enzyme encoded by this gene is inefficient in
ethanol
Ethanol (also called ethyl alcohol, grain alcohol, drinking alcohol, or simply alcohol) is an organic compound with the chemical formula . It is an Alcohol (chemistry), alcohol, with its formula also written as , or EtOH, where Et is the ps ...
oxidation
Redox ( , , reduction–oxidation or oxidation–reduction) is a type of chemical reaction in which the oxidation states of the reactants change. Oxidation is the loss of electrons or an increase in the oxidation state, while reduction is ...
, but is the most active as a
retinol dehydrogenase
In enzymology, a retinol dehydrogenase (RDH) () is an enzyme that catalysis, catalyzes the chemical reaction
:retinol + NAD+ \rightleftharpoons retinal + NADH + H+
Sometimes, in addition to or along with nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide, NAD+, N ...
; thus it may participate in the synthesis of
retinoic acid
Retinoic acid (simplified nomenclature for all-''trans''-retinoic acid) is a metabolite of vitamin A1 (all-''trans''-retinol) that is required for embryonic development, male fertility, regulation of bone growth and immune function. All-''trans ...
, a hormone important for
cellular differentiation
Cellular differentiation is the process in which a stem cell changes from one type to a differentiated one. Usually, the cell changes to a more specialized type. Differentiation happens multiple times during the development of a multicellula ...
. The expression of this gene makes it much more abundant in the stomach than the liver, thus it differs from the other known gene family members.
References
Further reading
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External links
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