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Failure to Find Exon 7 Polymorphism of the ADH7 Gene in Chinese, Japanese, African‐Americans, and Caucasians
Author(s) -
Carr Lucinda G.,
Zeng Daisy,
Li TingKai
Publication year - 1996
Publication title -
alcoholism: clinical and experimental research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.267
H-Index - 153
eISSN - 1530-0277
pISSN - 0145-6008
DOI - 10.1111/j.1530-0277.1996.tb01068.x
Subject(s) - valine , genotype , exon , biology , genetics , allele , polymorphism (computer science) , gene , point mutation , microbiology and biotechnology , medicine , amino acid , mutation
Class IV alcohol dehydrogenase (σ‐ADH) activity has been found in high levels in the stomach and esophagus, but not in liver. Gastric ADH activity has been reported to influence blood alcohol levels after oral ethanol ingestion, suggesting that σ‐ADH activity plays a role in first‐pass metabolism. It has also been reported that women have lower σ‐ADH activity than men and that Asians have lower σ‐ADH activity than Caucasians and African‐Americans. A genetic basis for these gender and ethnic differences in σ‐ADH activity has been postulated. A recent study in a Japanese subject found a point mutation in the codon for amino acid 287 of the ADH7 gene (which encodes (σ‐ADH), changing the amino acid from glycine to valine. A polymerase chain reaction‐sequencing assay was established to determine the frequency of this polymorphism in the Asian, Caucasian, and African‐American populations. The polymorphism was not present in the 21 Asians, 15 Caucasians, and 3 African‐Americans we genotyped, suggesting that if this polymorphism exists, its frequency is low in these ethnic groups. It is therefore unlikely to be responsible for the absence of σ‐ADH activity in gastric specimens from Asians.