A plethora of lesion-replicating DNA polymerases

Lesions in DNA often pose considerable impediments to genome duplication. To overcome this block to DNA replication, cells utilize specialized accessory factors that allow the synthesis of nascent DNA chains opposite the blocking lesion. Recent studies suggest that many of the key participants in tr...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Genes & development 1999-09, Vol.13 (17), p.2191-2195
Main Author: Woodgate, R
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Bacterial Proteins - metabolism
DNA Damage
DNA Repair
DNA Replication
DNA-Directed DNA Polymerase - metabolism
Escherichia coli
Escherichia coli - genetics
Escherichia coli Proteins
Fungal Proteins - metabolism
Humans
Nucleotidyltransferases
Saccharomyces cerevisiae
Saccharomyces cerevisiae - genetics
Saccharomyces cerevisiae Proteins
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Summary:Lesions in DNA often pose considerable impediments to genome duplication. To overcome this block to DNA replication, cells utilize specialized accessory factors that allow the synthesis of nascent DNA chains opposite the blocking lesion. Recent studies suggest that many of the key participants in translesion DNA synthesis belong to a large family of structurally related proteins that are found in prokaryotes, archaea, and eukaryotes. Phylogenetic analysis of these proteins suggests that they can be subdivided broadly into four groups typified by Escherichia coli UmuC, E. coli DinB, Saccharomyces cerevisiae Rev1, and the S. cerevisiae Rad30 protein. In the past, the molecular mechanism of translesion DNA synthesis has been one of the major unsolved problems in DNA repair. In the last 12 months, however, we have witnessed rapid development in our understanding of this fascinating process, with the discovery that E. coli UmuC, DinB, S. cerevisiae Rad30, and a human homolog of Rad30 are all novel DNA polymerases, most of which are capable of replicating damaged DNA (Tang et al. 1998, 1999; Johnson et al. 1999b; Masutani et al. 1999a; Wagner et al. 1999). These findings suggest that the process of translesion DNA synthesis is conserved from bacteria to humans (Fig. 1).
ISSN:0890-9369
DOI:10.1101/gad.13.17.2191