Human liver aldehyde dehydrogenase in Chinese and Asiatic Indians: gene deletion and its possible implications in alcohol metabolism.

Two separate human liver aldehyde dehydrogenases exist which show differences in substrate specificity, cation inhibition or activation, and molecular weight. In this paper we report a common absence of enzyme 2 in Chinese which may be taken to indicate a gene deletion coding for this enzyme. The possible implication of thie gene deletion among Chinese is discussed.