ALDH Nomenclature

Updated on January 21, 2001

Nomenclature Committee          Webmaster
Vasilis Vasiliou Vasilis Vasiliou
Amos Bairoch
David Crabb
John Hempel
Keith F. Tipton
Daniel W. Nebert

Recent changes in ALDH nomenclature

ALDH Nomenclature Spreadsheet. (Functions only with Microsoft Office 2000. If you do not have MS Office 2000, please e-mail me to send you the spreadsheet as an attachment). 

A standardized gene nomenclature system has been achieved, based on divergent evolution (Vasiliou V, Bairoch A, Tipton KF, Nebert DW: Eukaryotic Aldehyde Dehydrogenase (ALDH) Genes: Human Polymorphisms, and Recommended Nomenclature Based on Divergent Evolution and Chromosomal Mapping, Pharmacogenetics, 9: 421-434, 1999).

This unified ALDH gene superfamily nomenclature system replaces the previous proposed nomenclature of mammalian aldehyde dehydrogenases (Anonymous, Prog Clin Biol Res 1989: 290; xix-xxi).  

The new ALDH nomenclature was discussed and approved by the participants of the Ninth International Workshops on Enzymology and Molecular Biology of Carbonyl Metabolism (June 1998).

• Gene family: An ALDH protein from one gene family is defined as having about <40% amino-acid identity to that from another family.
• Subfamily: Two members of the same subfamily exhibit approximately >60% amino-acid identity.
• For naming each gene, root symbol "ALDH" denoting "aldehyde dehydrogenase" is followed by an Arabic number representing the family, and--when needed--a letter designating the subfamily and an Arabic number denoting the individual gene within the subfamily (see below).

• All letters are capitalized in all mammals except mouse and fruit fly, e.g. "human ALDH1A1 (mouse, Drosophila Aldh1a1)." The gene is italicized, whereas the corresponding cDNA, mRNA, protein or enzyme activity is written with upper-case letters and without italics, e.g. "human, mouse or Drosophila ALDH1A1 cDNA, mRNA, or activity." (see below)
  

• Human ALDH variant alleles are recommended to be given numbers (or number plus a capital letter) following an asterisk (e.g. "ALDH3A2*2, ALDH2*4C").
• Naming an ALDH gene and ALDH enzyme:
  Please send (at least) the deduced amino acid sequence of any newly discovered ALDH gene or cDNA to the ALDH Gene Nomenclature Committee [Vasilis Vasiliou, David Crabb, John Hempel, Dan W. Nebert].

LINKS with nomenclature related-sites

• Human Gene Nomenclature Committee (HUGO)

Back to:  ALDH page or Vasiliou Lab Homepage

E-mail questions or comments to: vasilis.vasiliou@ucdenver.edu