The genetics of alpha-hydroxyacid oxidase and alcohol dehydrogenase in the mouse: evidence for multiple gene loci and linkage between Hao-2 and Adh-3.

Electrophoretic polymorphisms for stomach alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH-C2) and kidney L-alpha-hydroxyacid oxidase (HAOX-B4) have been identified in an Asian subspecies of mouse, Musmusculus castaneous. These variants are inherited in a normal Mendelian fashion with two alleles in each case showing codominant expression. The structural gene loci for those enzymes (Adh-3 and Hao-2, respectively) are apparently linked (17.6% recombinants) in this organism, whereas the multiple gene loci for HAOX, Hao-1 (encoding the A4 liver isozyme) and Hao-2, exhibited independent segregation and are unlinked (50% recombinants). Evidence is presented for 3 ADH loci: ADH-1, encoding liver ADH-A2 which exhibits high activity with ethanol (SELANDER, HUNT and YANG 1969; ADH-2, liver and stomach ADH-B2 using 2-hexene-1-ol as substrate; and Adh-3, stomach ADH-C2 using both benzyl alcohol and 2-hexene-1-ol as substrate.