The structures of horse liver alcohol dehydrogenase class I in its apoenzyme form and in different ternary complexes have been determined at high resolution. The complex with NAD+ and the substrate analogue pentafluorobenzyl alcohol gives a detailed picture of the interactions in an enzyme-substrate complex. The alcohol is bound to the zinc and positioned so that the hydrogen atom can be directly transferred to the C4 atom of the nicotinamide ring. The structure of cod liver alcohol dehydrogenase with hybrid properties (functionally of class I but structurally overall closer to class III) has been determined by molecular replacement methods to 3 A resolution. Yeast alcohol dehydrogenase has been crystallized, and native data have been collected to 3 A resolution.