Use of polyclonal antibodies to study properties of mammalian aldehyde dehydrogenases

Polyclonal antibodies prepared against horse liver mitochondrial aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH) crossreact with both cytoplasmic and mitochondrial ALDH. Antibodies prepared against the cytosolic enzymes were more specific in that they only precipitated enzymes derived from cytosol. These polyclonal antibodies were used to determine the subcellular localization of aldehyde dehydrogenase isozymes isolated from other species and other tissues. A sequential precipitation technique was developed which allowed for the determination if samples contain both antigens. The polyclonal antibodies contained antibodies which recognize peptide fragments of mitochondrial ALDH. These antibodies can be used to probe for structural homology between similar regions in different forms of ADLH.