Faculty Bibliography

Drosophila alcohol dehydrogenase is the most studied member of the family of short-chain alcohol dehydrogenases, although its tridimensional structure still remains unknown. We have engineered a Drosophila alcohol dehydrogenase in which tyrosine-152, an invariant residue in all members of the family, has been substituted by phenylalanine. The mutated gene has been expressed in yeast and pure mutant enzyme has been prepared by a one-step FPLC chromatographic procedure. Drosophila alcohol dehydrogenase-phenylalanine-152 shows no enzymatic activity. This result suggests not only that tyrosine-152 could constitute an essential building block of the active site but also that its hydroxyl group is directly involved in the redox reaction catalyzed by the enzyme.