The succinic semialdehyde dehydrogenase gene (SSADH; EC 1.2.1.24) from human brain was cloned and overexpressed in Escherichia coli. Based on SDS-PAGE, the apparent molecular mass of subunit was 54 kDa, in good agreement with the theoretical size. The purified SSADH appears to be a tetramer of identical subunits. The specific activity of the recombinant protein was 1.82 mu mol NADH formed min(-1) mg(-1) and the optimal pH was found to be 8.5. The Michaelis constants K-m for succinic semialdehyde and NAD(+) were 6.3 and 125 mu M, respectively. Initial velocity studies show NADH to be a competitive inhibitor with respect to NAD(+), but to be non-competitive inhibitor with respect to succinic semialdehyde. The overexpression of SSADH in E coli and one-step purification of the highly active SSADH will facilitate further biochemical studies on this enzyme. In addition, an mRNA master dot-blot for multiple human tissues provided a complete map of the tissue distribution for SSADH. The major sites of SSADH expression are liver, skeletal muscle, kidney, and brain. The data indicate that mRNA expression of SSADH is ubiquitous, but highly regulated at the level of transcription in a tissue-specific manner. (c) 2005 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.