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Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology 7, 143–147 (1 February 2006) | doi:10.1038/nrm1787

The eureka enzyme: the discovery of DNA polymerase

Errol C. Friedberg

The identification and partial purification by Arthur Kornberg and his colleagues in 1956 of an enzyme ? DNA polymerase I of Escherichia coli ? that catalysed the stable incorporation of deoxyribonucleotides into DNA in vitro came as a surprise. At the time, most scientists in the field believed that DNA synthesis was too complicated to be accurately reflected outside the living cell.