GENE REFERENCE / HGNC:408

ALDH5A1

aldehyde dehydrogenase 5 family member A1

protein-coding gene6p22.3Gene information

What does this gene do?

The ALDH5A1 gene provides instructions for producing the succinic semialdehyde dehydrogenase enzyme. This enzyme is found in the energy-producing centers of cells (mitochondria). Succinic semialdehyde dehydrogenase is involved in the breakdown of a chemical that transmits signals in the brain (neurotransmitter) called gamma-amino butyric acid (GABA). The primary role of GABA is to prevent the brain from being overloaded with too many signals. Once GABA molecules have been released from nerve cells, they are broken down by succinic semialdehyde dehydrogenase and other enzymes.

Source: MedlinePlus, National Library of Medicine. Source publication: 2024-03-06. Source review: 2024-03.

ClinGen reviews

ClinGen reviews the evidence linking a particular gene to a condition. Each rating below describes the strength of that link. It does not classify a variant in your DNA file.

Condition	Inheritance	Evidence
succinic semialdehyde dehydrogenase deficiencyMONDO:0010083 · Evaluated 2021-04-27	Autosomal recessive	DefinitiveIntellectual Disability and Autism Gene Curation Expert Panel

ClinVar records

These numbers show what has been submitted to ClinVar. They cannot tell you how likely you are to have a condition.

Submitted alleles: 930
Submissions for variants in or overlapping this gene: 1,490
Submissions explicitly reporting this gene: 1,469
Alleles reported pathogenic / likely pathogenic: 158
VariationIDs with uncertain significance: 340
VariationIDs with conflicting classifications: 52

The rows count different things: alleles, submissions or VariationIDs. Their categories can overlap, so do not add them together. Pathogenic/likely pathogenic counts exclude structural variants that merely overlap a gene. A dash in the source means “not reported,” not zero.

NCBI produces the gene-summary file each week using counts recorded at the start of the month. The numbers may differ from those on the live ClinVar website. Read the field definitions ↗

View this gene in ClinVar ↗

YOUR DNA FILE

Can your DNA file tell you about ALDH5A1?

From a DNA test kit (such as 23andMe, AncestryDNA or MyHeritage). These kits check a fixed list of about 600,000 to 700,000 positions across your whole genome. ClinVar lists 158 alleles in ALDH5A1 reported as pathogenic or likely pathogenic. A kit checks only some of these positions, and often none of them.

From whole genome sequencing (a VCF file). Sequencing reads most of your genome. Your file lists the places where your DNA differs from the reference genome. Some regions are hard to sequence, including parts of some genes that have near-identical copies elsewhere, and a VCF file does not record which positions were read well.

If a variant is not in your file, that does not mean you don’t have it.

What BioDecode checks

BioDecode compares every variant in your file with ClinVar, on your own computer. For each match, it shows the ClinVar classification, the review status and the condition it was reported for. Your file is not uploaded.

A ClinVar classification applies to one particular variant and the condition it was reported for. It does not tell you about other variants in ALDH5A1.

BioDecode cannot fill gaps in your test, diagnose a condition or replace clinical testing.

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