Abstract Introduction The article critically reviews about some emerging problems due to alcoholism. In the present decade, various diseases caused by chronic alcoholism are immensely important. Alcohol is a water-soluble molecule that is rapidly absorbed into the bloodstream from the stomach, small intestine and colon and metabolized primarily in the liver by the actions of alcohol dehydrogena...

Cinnamyl alcohol dehydrogenases (CAD; 1.1.1.195) catalyse the reversible conversion of p-hydroxycinnamaldehydes to their corresponding alcohols, leading to the biosynthesis of lignin in plants. Outside of plants their role is less defined. The gene for cinnamyl alcohol dehydrogenase from Helicobacter pylori (HpCAD) was cloned in Escherichia coli and the recombinant enzyme characterized for subs...

A pathway from glucose via sorbitol bypasses the control points of hexokinase and phosphofructokinase in glucose metabolism. It also may produce glycerol, linking the bypass to lipid synthesis. Utilization of this bypass is favored by a plentiful supply of glucose--hence, conditions under which glycolysis also is active. The bypass further involves oxidation of NADPH, so the pentose phosphate p...

In a marked-inversion balanced lethal system of the second chromosome of Drosophila melanogaster, mutations were accumulated under minimum pressure of natural selection in 1000 individual lines that originated essentially from two individuals. After about 300 generations, the specific activities of alcohol dehydrogenase of 69 randomly selected individual lines were measured with replications us...

Mutants of Alcaligenes eutrophus which are altered with respect to the utilization of 2,3-butanediol and acetoin were isolated after transposon mutagenesis. The suicide vehicle pSUP5011 was used to introduce the drug resistance transposable element Tn5 into A. eutrophus. Kanamycin-resistant transconjugants of the 2,3-butanediol-utilizing parent strains CF10141 and AS141 were screened for mutant...

Sjogren-Larsson syndrome (SLS) is an inherited disorder associated with impaired fatty alcohol oxidation due to deficient activity of fatty alcohol:NAD+ oxidoreductase (FAO). FAO is a complex enzyme which consists of two separate proteins that sequentially catalyze the oxidation of fatty alcohol to fatty aldehyde and fatty acid. To determine which enzymatic component of FAO was deficient in SLS...

Ethylene glycol, a common antifreeze, coolant and industrial solvent, is responsible for many instances of accidental and intentional poisoning annually. Following ingestion, ethylene glycol is first hepatically metabolised to glycoaldehyde by alcohol dehydrogenase. Glycoaldehyde is then oxidised to glycolic acid, glyoxylic acid and finally oxalic acid. While ethylene glycol itself causes intox...