Al's Home Page

Portraits and Sculptures of Al
(Alcohol Dehydrogenase I Beta-1)

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This is Al, formally known as alcohol dehydrogenase I beta-1. Al is a worker whose job it is to carry out the first step in the pathway of detoxifying ethyl alcohol (from beer, wine, and other alcoholic drinks). The human body generally makes Al only in the liver, although the Instruction for making Al is found in all of the body's cells. The picture above shows Al and the molecules he works on. Al is shown in dark blue, an alcohol (cyclohexyl alcohol) in brick red, and NAD in light blue. Cyclohexyl alcohol is a larger alcohol than ethyl alcohol, but Al's specificity lets him work on it as well. (The scientists who figured out what Al looks like did so by putting cyclohexyl alcohol in his active site, because this alcohol's larger size prevents it from rattling around in the active site, which in turn makes it easier to figure out how alcohols fit into it.) Each of the bumps in the picture represents an atom that makes up Al or the molecules he works on. Al's small for a worker, and that's pretty small: Al is a bit more than a ten-millionth of an inch tall. However, Al is much larger than the molecules he works on. The movies show "sculptures" of Al slowly turning to show off his different sides.

Al at Work
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Al always works in pairs. details	Al's active site consists of only a few links, which are pressed up against the molecules it works on. details	Pushing around hydrogen atoms is what Al does all day. details

The Visible Al
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Al has two domains and a complex internal structure. details

What's Al Made Of

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Each of Al's sidechains determines a little of how Al looks and what Al does. details

Al and Related Workers
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Al (ADH beta-1) and beta-3 are produced by different alleles of the same Instruction. The one different link between them makes beta-3 faster than Al. details	Al and ADH sigma do the same work, since they diverged from the same ancestor. Sigma's a lot faster, and is the body's first line of defense against alcohol in drinks. details

How big is Al?

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Al is a smaller than many other workers. details