Biochemical genetics of alcohol dehydrogenase isozymes in the gray short-tailed opossum (Monodelphis domestica)

Opossum alcohol dehydrogenases: Sequences, structures, phylogeny and evolution: evidence for the tandem location of ADH genes on opossum chromosome 5

BLAT (BLAST-Like Alignment Tool) analyses and interrogations of the recently published opossum genome were undertaken using previously reported rat ADH amino acid sequences. Evidence is presented for six opossum ADH genes localized on chromosome 5 and organized in a comparable ADH gene cluster to that reported for human and rat ADH genes. The predicted amino acid sequences and secondary structures for the opossum ADH subunits and the intron-exon boundaries for opossum ADH genes showed a high degree of similarity with other mammalian ADHs, and four opossum ADH classes were identified, namely ADH1, ADH3, ADH6 and ADH4 (for which three genes were observed: ADH4A, ADH4B and ADH4C). Previous biochemical analyses of opossum ADHs have reported the tissue distribution and properties for these enzymes: ADH1, the major liver enzyme; ADH3, widely distributed in opossum tissues with similar kinetic properties to mammalian class 3 ADHs; and ADH4, for which several forms were localized in extrahepatic tissues, especially in the digestive system and in the eye. These ADHs are likely to perform similar functions to those reported for other mammalian ADHs in the metabolism of ingested and endogenous alcohols and aldehydes. Phylogenetic analyses examined opossum, human, rat, chicken and cod ADHs, and supported the proposed designation of opossum ADHs as class I (ADH1), class III (ADH3), class IV (ADH4A, ADH4B and ADH4C) and class VI (ADH6). Percentage substitution rates were examined for ADHs during vertebrate evolution which indicated that ADH3 is evolving at a much slower rate to that of the other ADH classes.

Alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) isozymes in the AdhN/AdhN strain of Peromyscus maniculatus (ADH-deermouse) and a possible role of class III ADH in alcohol metabolism

Although the AdhN/AdhN strain of Peromyscus maniculatus (so-called ADH- deermouse) has been previously considered to be deficient in ADH, we found ADH isozymes of Classes II and III but not Class I in the liver of this strain. On the other hand, the AdhF/AdhF strain (so-called ADH+ deermouse), which has liver ADH activity, had Class I and III but not Class II ADH in the liver. In the stomach, Class III and IV ADHs were detected in both deermouse strains, as well as in the ddY mouse, which has the normal mammalian ADH system with four classes of ADH. These ADH isozymes were identified as electrophoretic phenotypes on the basis of their substrate specificity, pyrazole sensitivity, and immunoreactivity. Liver ADH activity of the ADH- strain was barely detectable in a conventional ADH assay using 15 mM ethanol as substrate; however, it increased markedly with high concentrations of ethanol (up to 3 M) or hexenol (7 mM). Furthermore, in a hydrophobic reaction medium containing 1.0 M t-butanol, liver ADH activity of this strain at low concentrations of ethanol (< 100 mM) greatly increased (about sevenfold), to more than 50% that of ADH+ deermouse. These results were attributable to the presence of Class III ADH and the absence of Class I ADH in the liver of ADH- deermouse. It was also found that even the ADH+ strain has low liver ADH activity (< 40% that of the ddY mouse) with 15 mM ethanol as substrate, probably due to low activity in Class I ADH. Consequently, liver ADH activity of this strain was lower than its stomach ADH activity, in contrast with the ddY mouse, whose ADH activity was much higher in the liver than in the stomach, as well as other mammals. Thus, the ADH systems in both ADH- and ADH+ deermouse were different not only from each other but also from that in the ddY mouse; the ADH- strain was deficient in only Class I ADH, and the ADH+ strain was deficient in Class II ADH and down-regulated in Class I ADH activity. Therefore, Class III ADH, which was found in both strains and activated allosterically, may participate in alcohol metabolism in deermouse, especially in the ADH- strain.

Linkage between complement components 6 and 7 and glutamic pyruvate transaminase in the marsupial Monodelphis domestica

The sixth and seventh components of complement were found to be polymorphic and tightly linked in the laboratory opossum (Monodelphis domestica), as they are in eutherian mammals. In addition, strong evidence for linkage of the C6-C7 haplotype to the gene for glutamic pyruvate transaminase (GPT) was obtained for females but not for males. This result, combined with previous observations, established as a generality that recombination is severely reduced in females of this species by comparison with males. It also establishes synteny of C6-C7 and GPT in a marsupial species, as exists in mice. Because these loci are not syntenic in humans, the results imply that this synteny is ancestral to the separation of marsupials and eutherians and that it was broken relatively recently in the mammalian lineage leading to human beings. The newly described C6 and C7 polymorphisms provide additional power for developing a linkage map for M. domestica and for localizing genes that confer susceptibility to diseases for which this species is used as a model.