Simian liver alcohol dehydrogenase: isolation and characterization of isozymes from Macaca nemestrina.

Three classes of hepatic alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH), analogous to those of human liver, are present in Macaca nemestrina. Their functional, compositional, and structural features have been established with isozymes purified to homogeneity by affinity and conventional ion-exchange chromatography. One unusual molecular form of M. nemestrina ADH is electrophoretically indistinguishable as it comigrates with one of the cathodic class I isozymes on starch gel electrophoresis. While its substrate and inhibitor specificity, a high Km value for ethanol (50 mM at pH 10), and lack of binding to the pyrazole affinity resin are consistent with the kinetics of class II ADH, the physiochemical and compositional properties are virtually identical with all other known mammalian alcohol dehydrogenases. The unexpected presence of this previously unknown ADH variant in livers of M. nemestrina demonstrates the need for prudence in assignment of ADH isozymes. Classification based solely on electrophoretic position in starch gels and enzymatic properties of human ADH but without isolation and characterization of individual isozymes may prove insufficient and inadequate. The genetic or phenotypic nature of this isozyme remains to be demonstrated.