Progress in the Field of Aldehyde Dehydrogenase (ALDH) Researches

A special issue of Cells (ISSN 2073-4409).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 November 2021) | Viewed by 6694

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Piemonte Orientale, 28100 Novara, Italy
Interests: NAD homeostasis; dehydrogenases; target validation; enzymology; structural biology; protein-protein interaction; drug discovery; ALDHs

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Guest Editor
Department of Pharmacy, University of Pisa, 56126 Pisa, Italy
Interests: drug design; drug development; enzyme inhibitors; cancer; inflammation

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Research on the role of aldehyde dehydrogenases (ALDHs) is constantly evolving and continues to provide our scientific community with numerous interesting results regrading both their physiological and pathological roles. ALDHs comprise a superfamily of NAD(P+)-dependent isoforms characterized by distinctive subcellular localization and playing a crucial role in a wide spectrum of biological functions. Besides catalyzing the irreversible oxidation of both aliphatic and aromatic aldehydes, thus exerting a detoxifying role, ALDHs are in charge of the synthesis of retinoic acid, a key mediator for cell proliferation and differentiation, and affect vitality, self-renewing, and expansion of embryonal tissues and cells, showing a stem-like phenotype. The clinical importance of the ALDHs is evidenced from human phenotypes directly linked to mutations in ALDH genes, leading to the absence, deficiency or inactivation of ALDH proteins. In addition, multiple disease states are associated with ALDH dysfunction, including many cancers, metabolic diseases and neurological abnormalities. They also have structural roles in the eye, as crystallins, and serve as binding molecules to endobiotics and xenobiotics, including androgens, cholesterol, and thyroid hormone. Alterations in ALDHs expression and functioning are at the molecular basis of several pathological conditions. Actually, experimental evidence at the genetic, transcriptomic and protein levels suggests the involvement of these enzymes in carcinogenesis and neurodegeneration, including Parkinson´s and Alzheimer´s diseases. The significant physio-pathological role of the ALDHs superfamily, stimulating lively and evolving investigational studies, justifies this Special Issue, which is thought of as a forum to bring together a collection of original research articles, reviews, and communications, covering any topics related to this wide and multi-faceted class of enzymes.

Prof. Dr. Silvia Garavaglia
Prof. Dr. Concettina La Motta
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • aldehyde dehydrogenase
  • aldehyde dehydrogenase superfamily
  • aldehydes
  • detoxification
  • retinoic acid
  • stem cells
  • cancer stem cells
  • carcinogenesis
  • neurodegeneration
  • all-trans-retinaldehyde
  • ALDHs target validation
  • alcohol metabolism
  • aldehyde metabolism
  • aldehyde detoxification function

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

19 pages, 2458 KiB  
Article
Study of ALDH from Thermus thermophilus—Expression, Purification and Characterisation of the Non-Substrate Specific, Thermophilic Enzyme Displaying Both Dehydrogenase and Esterase Activity
by Kim Shortall, Edel Durack, Edmond Magner and Tewfik Soulimane
Cells 2021, 10(12), 3535; https://doi.org/10.3390/cells10123535 - 14 Dec 2021
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 4847
Abstract
Aldehyde dehydrogenases (ALDH), found in all kingdoms of life, form a superfamily of enzymes that primarily catalyse the oxidation of aldehydes to form carboxylic acid products, while utilising the cofactor NAD(P)+. Some superfamily members can also act as esterases using p [...] Read more.
Aldehyde dehydrogenases (ALDH), found in all kingdoms of life, form a superfamily of enzymes that primarily catalyse the oxidation of aldehydes to form carboxylic acid products, while utilising the cofactor NAD(P)+. Some superfamily members can also act as esterases using p-nitrophenyl esters as substrates. The ALDHTt from Thermus thermophilus was recombinantly expressed in E. coli and purified to obtain high yields (approximately 15–20 mg/L) and purity utilising an efficient heat treatment step coupled with IMAC and gel filtration chromatography. The use of the heat treatment step proved critical, in its absence decreased yield of 40% was observed. Characterisation of the thermophilic ALDHTt led to optimum enzymatic working conditions of 50 °C, and a pH of 8. ALDHTt possesses dual enzymatic activity, with the ability to act as a dehydrogenase and an esterase. ALDHTt possesses broad substrate specificity, displaying activity for a range of aldehydes, most notably hexanal and the synthetic dialdehyde, terephthalaldehyde. Interestingly, para-substituted benzaldehydes could be processed efficiently, but ortho-substitution resulted in no catalytic activity. Similarly, ALDHTt displayed activity for two different esterase substrates, p-nitrophenyl acetate and p-nitrophenyl butyrate, but with activities of 22.9% and 8.9%, respectively, compared to the activity towards hexanal. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Progress in the Field of Aldehyde Dehydrogenase (ALDH) Researches)
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