The protein encoded by this gene is a member of the alcohol dehydrogenase family. Members of this enzyme family metabolize a wide variety of substrates, including ethanol, retinol, other aliphatic alcohols, hydroxysteroids, and lipid peroxidation products. This encoded protein, consisting of several homo- and heterodimers of alpha, beta, and gamma subunits, exhibits high activity for ethanol oxidation and plays a major role in ethanol catabolism. Three genes encoding alpha, beta and gamma subunits are tandemly organized in a genomic segment as a gene cluster. Two transcript variants encoding different isoforms have been found for this gene
[1]"Molecular cloning of a full-length cDNA for human alcohol dehydrogenase."Ikuta T., Fujiyoshi T., Kurachi K., Yoshida A.Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 82:2703-2707(1985)-2127(2004) [2]"Molecular analysis of the human class I alcohol
