Alcohol Dehydrogenase Gene Family Responses to Abiotic Stress

The alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) gene family encodes enzymes that catalyse the reversible conversion of alcohols and aldehydes, thereby playing a pivotal role in plant adaptation to oxygen deprivation and other environmental challenges. Members of this multigene family are grouped into medium-, long- and short-chain subfamilies based on sequence homology and conserved domains. Under hypoxic conditions such as waterlogging or soil compaction, ADH activity supports anaerobic fermentation, maintains energy homeostasis and regulates redox balance by modulating levels of acetaldehyde and ethanol. In cold, salt, drought or ultraviolet-B stress, ADH genes are transcriptionally induced through cis-regulatory elements responsive to low temperature, osmotic tension or oxidative cues. This regulation often involves gene duplication events—tandem or segmental—that expand functional diversity and permit subfunctionalisation across tissues and developmental stages. Beyond primary metabolism, ADH-mediated volatile profiles can act as airborne signals, coordinating stress resilience at the community level. Collectively, insights into ADH gene structure, evolutionary history and stress-responsive expression lay the foundation for targeted breeding and genetic engineering approaches aimed at enhancing crop tolerance to multifactorial abiotic stresses.

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Alcohol Dehydrogenase Gene Family Responses to Abiotic Stress publication trend

The graph below shows the total number of articles in alcohol dehydrogenase gene family responses to abiotic stress across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).

Technical terms

Alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH): Enzyme converting alcohols to aldehydes (and vice versa), central to anaerobic metabolism and redox homeostasis.

Abiotic stress: Non-living environmental factors (e.g. drought, salinity, temperature extremes, hypoxia) that adversely affect organismal function.

Cis-regulatory element: Short DNA sequence in a gene’s promoter region that binds transcription factors to modulate gene expression.

Gene duplication: Process by which one or more copies of a gene are generated, facilitating functional divergence and evolutionary innovation.

Reactive oxygen species (ROS): Chemically reactive molecules containing oxygen that accumulate under stress and can damage cellular components unless detoxified.

References

1. Genome-wide identification and expression analysis of the ADH gene family under diverse stresses in tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum L.). BMC Genomics (2024).
2. Genome-wide identification of alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) gene family under waterlogging stress in wheat (Triticum aestivum). PeerJ (2021).
3. Genome-wide identification and characterization of ADH gene family and the expression under different abiotic stresses in tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.). Frontiers in Genetics (2023).