Abstract
Mammalian DNA polymerase κ (pol κ), a member of the UmuC/DinB nucleotidyl transferase superfamily, has been implicated in spontaneous mutagenesis. Here we show that human pol κ copies undamaged DNA with average single-base substitution and deletion error rates of 7 × 10-3 and 2 × 10-3, respectively. These error rates are high when compared to those of most other DNA polymerases, pol κ also has unusual error specificity, producing a high proportion of T·CMP mispairs and deleting and adding non-reiterated nucleotides at extraordinary rates. Unlike other members of the UmuC/ DinB family, pol κ can processively synthesize chains of 25 or more nucleotides. This moderate processivity may reflect a contribution of C-terminal residues, which include two zinc clusters. The very low fidelity and moderate processivity of pol κ is novel in comparison to any previously studied DNA polymerase, and is consistent with a role in spontaneous mutagenesis.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 39678-39684 |
Number of pages | 7 |
Journal | Journal of Biological Chemistry |
Volume | 275 |
Issue number | 50 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Dec 15 2000 |
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Biochemistry
- Molecular Biology
- Cell Biology