Human aldehyde dehydrogenase genes, ALDH7 and ALDH8: Genomic organization and gene structure comparison

The structure of two human aldehyde dehydrogenase genes, ALDH7 and ALDH8, have been determined. The ALDH7 gene spans about 20 kb of the human genomic DNA and is composed of 9 coding exons. The ALDH8 gene is over 10 kb in length and consists of at least 10 exons. The ALDH8 gene contains an in-frame stop codon at the 17th codon position from the first initiator Met. The coding region of the ALDH7 gene shows about 86% nucleotide identity with the corresponding region of the ALDH8 gene. The numbers and positions of the introns of the two genes are conserved, suggesting that gene duplication is involved in the expansion of the ALDH gene family. The human ALDH7 and -8 genes have a closer evolutionary relationship with the human ALDH3.