title: Mouse type-2 retinaldehyde dehydrogenase (RALDH2): genomic organization, tissue-dependent expression, chromosome assignment and comparison to other types.
abstract: Retinaldehyde dehydrogenase (RALDH) isozymes catalyze the formation of an essential developmental modulator, retinoic acid. We determined the structural organization of mouse type-2 Raldh2 by isolation of overlapping genomic DNA clones from a phage library. The gene consists of 14 exons spanning more than 70 kb of genomic DNA. It was localized to mouse chromosome 6. Northern blot analysis revealed testis-specific expression. The RALDH genes belong to the aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH) multi-gene family. Three types of RALDH genes (e.g. human ALDH1/mouse Ahd2/rat RalDH(I), human ALDH11/mouse Raldh2/rat RalDH(II) and human ALDH6) are highly conserved during evolution, sharing about 70% identity at the amino acid level between any two gene types and 90% identity between any two mammalian genes of the same type. Different RALDH types show specific tissue and developmental expression patterns, suggesting (i) a regulatory mechanism of retinoic acid synthesis via different promoters of RALDH genes, and (ii) distinctive biological roles of different isozymes in embryogenesis and organogenesis.
authors.affiliation: Division of Molecular Medicine, Beckman Research Institute of the City of Hope, 1450 E. Duarte Road, Duarte, CA 91010, USA. lhsu@coh.org
authors.forename: L C
authors.initials: LC
authors.lastname: Hsu
authors.forename: W C
authors.initials: WC
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Yoshida
mesh_terms: D000445:Aldehyde Oxidoreductases / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D002874:Chromosome Mapping; D002875:Chromosomes; D004247:DNA / Q000032:analysis; D015971:Gene Expression Regulation, Enzymologic; D016678:Genome; D006801:Humans; D051379:Mice; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D050697:Retinal Dehydrogenase; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D014018:Tissue Distribution
chemical_list: D004247:DNA; D000445:Aldehyde Oxidoreductases; D050697:Retinal Dehydrogenase