EXERCISE 9 VARIATION IN THE ADH1B GENE Work with a small group or alone to compl

Question

EXERCISE 9 VARIATION IN THE ADH1B GENE Work with a small group or alone to complete this exercise. The ADH18 gene is one of the genes that codes for alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH)-an enzyme that helps in the digestion of alcohol. A variant of this gene called the ADH1B*47His elps metabolize alcohol faster than other versions of the trait, thus reducing the amount of alcohol that saturates his allele is rarely found in African or European populations, but it is very frequent in East Asian populations allele h the bloodstream. It also causes a negative side effect, where a person's face flushes red when he or she consumes where it is often found in more than 50% of the population and may even be found in almost 100% of people in certain populations. These Ea over the past 9,000 years. The map shows the fr of rice cultivation has been found are superimposed st Asian populations also have a long history of growing rice and making fermented rice beverages equency of the ADH1B*47His allele in East Asia. Sites where evidence 1. Based on what you know about the evolutionary forces behind human variations, how would you explain the distri- bution of the ADH1B*47His allele? Why do you think this allele is common in East Asian populations? Do you seea relationship between rice cultivation and allele frequency? Hint: Consider the benefits and drawbacks of consuming alcoholic beverages and how this might factor into the evolution of the ADH1B*47His allele. 100% 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 o 00 o O 0oo Age of rice cultivation sites 12,000-8,000 years BR -8,000-6,000 years BP . 6,000-3,000 years BP

Explanation / Answer

The protein encoded by this gene is a member of the alcohol dehydrogenase family. Members of this enzyme family metabolize a wide variety of substrates, including ethanol, retinol, other aliphatic alcohols, hydroxysteroids, and lipid peroxidation products. This encoded protein, consisting of several homo- and heterodimers of alpha, beta, and gamma subunits, exhibits high activity for ethanol oxidation and plays a major role in ethanol catabolism. Three genes encoding alpha, beta and gamma subunits are tandemly organized in a genomic segment as a gene cluster. Two transcript variants encoding different isoforms have been found for this gene

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