Mysterious and fascinating: DNA polymerase ɩ remains enigmatic 20 years after its discovery

Alexandra Vaisman; Roger Woodgate

doi:10.1016/j.dnarep.2020.102914

Mysterious and fascinating: DNA polymerase ɩ remains enigmatic 20 years after its discovery

DNA Repair (Amst). 2020 Sep:93:102914. doi: 10.1016/j.dnarep.2020.102914.

Authors

Alexandra Vaisman¹, Roger Woodgate²

Affiliations

¹ Laboratory of Genomic Integrity, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892-3371, USA.
² Laboratory of Genomic Integrity, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892-3371, USA. Electronic address: woodgate@nih.gov.

Abstract

With the publication of the first paper describing the biochemical properties of DNA polymerase iota (polɩ), the question immediately arose as to why cells harbor such a low-fidelity enzyme which often violates the Watson-Crick base pairing rules? Yet 20 years after its discovery, the cellular function of polɩ remains unknown. Here, we provide a graphical review of the unique biochemical properties of polɩ and speculate about the cellular pathways in which enigmatic polɩ may participate.

Keywords: Mutagenesis; Replicase; Replication fidelity; Translesion DNA synthesis; Y-family DNA polymerase.

Publication types

Research Support, N.I.H., Intramural
Review

MeSH terms

DNA / metabolism
DNA Polymerase iota
DNA Repair
DNA Replication*
DNA-Directed DNA Polymerase / metabolism*
Humans
Models, Molecular*

Substances

DNA
DNA-Directed DNA Polymerase
DNA Polymerase iota
POLI protein, human

Grants and funding

ZIA HD001500/ImNIH/Intramural NIH HHS/United States