这种蛋白质属于醛脱氢酶家族的蛋白质Aldehyde dehydrogenase是酒精代谢的主要氧化途径的第二个酶。乙醛脱氢酶的两个主要肝脏亚型，胞质和线粒体，可以通过它们的电泳迁移率、动力学性质和亚细胞定位来区分。大多数白种人有两个主要同工酶，而东亚50%的人具有胞浆同工酶，而不是线粒体同工酶。东亚白种人急性酒精中毒的频率明显高于白种人，这可能与缺乏线粒体线粒体同工酶的催化活性形式有关。在具有催化活性不活跃形式的个体中，乙醛暴露的增加也可能导致对多种癌症的更大易感性。该基因编码一种线粒体亚型，乙醛含量低，位于线粒体基质中。选择性剪接导致编码不同亚型的多个转录变体。[由RefSeq提供，2016年11月]
This protein belongs to the aldehyde dehydrogenase family of proteins. Aldehyde dehydrogenase is the second enzyme of the major oxidative pathway of alcohol metabolism. Two major liver isoforms of aldehyde dehydrogenase, cytosolic and mitochondrial, can be distinguished by their electrophoretic mobilities, kinetic properties, and subcellular localizations. Most Caucasians have two major isozymes, while approximately 50% of East Asians have the cytosolic isozyme but not the mitochondrial isozyme. A remarkably higher frequency of acute alcohol intoxication among East Asians than among Caucasians could be related to the absence of a catalytically active form of the mitochondrial isozyme. The increased exposure to acetaldehyde in individuals with the catalytically inactive form may also confer greater susceptibility to many types of cancer. This gene encodes a mitochondrial isoform, which has a low Km for acetaldehydes, and is localized in mitochondrial matrix. Alternative splicing results in multiple transcript variants encoding distinct isoforms.[provided by RefSeq, Nov 2016]