Aldehyde dehydrogenase 8 family, member A1 also known as ALDH8A1 is an enzyme that in humans is encoded by the ALDH8A1 gene.[1]
Function
This protein belongs to the aldehyde dehydrogenase family of proteins. It plays a role in a pathway of 9-cis-retinoic acid biosynthesis in vivo. This enzyme converts 9-cis-retinal into the retinoid X receptor ligand 9-cis-retinoic acid, and has approximately 40-fold higher activity with 9-cis-retinal than with all-trans-retinal. Therefore, it is the first known aldehyde dehydrogenase to show a preference for 9-cis-retinal relative to all-trans-retinal. Two transcript variants encoding distinct isoforms have been identified for this gene.[2]
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External links
This article incorporates text from the United States National Library of Medicine, which is in the public domain.
