Alcohol dehydrogenase isozymes in adult human stomach and liver: evidence for activity of the <i>ADH₃</i> locus

Abstract

In a previous paper (Smith, Hopkinson & Harris, 1971) we put forward a genetical hypothesis to explain the isozyme patterns of human alcohol dehydrogenase in various tissues and at different times in development.It was suggested that there are three loci each coding for a structurally distinct type of polypeptide chain; that the isozymes are dimers; and that any particular isozyme may be made up of two identical subunits coded by a specific allele at one of the loci, or of two non-identical subunits coded by alleles at two separate loci, or of two non-identical subunits coded by different alleles at the same locus.The loci were called ADH,, ADH, and ADH, and the corresponding polypeptide subunits a, /3 and y.At each of the ADH, and ADH, loci the evidence