Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • News & Views
  • Published:

Structures of human DNA polymerases ν and θ expose their end game

Nature Structural & Molecular Biology volume 22, pages 273–275 (2015)Cite this article

Subjects

Although the two B-family human DNA polymerases, pol δ and pol ε, are responsible for the bulk of nuclear genome replication, at least 14 additional polymerases have roles in nuclear DNA repair and replication. In this issue, newly reported crystal structures of two specialized A-family polymerases, pol ν and pol θ, expose these enzymes' strategies for handling aberrant DNA ends.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Structural organization of pol ν and pol θ bound to DNA.
Figure 2: Pol ν fidelity for dTTP misinsertion opposite template dG.

References

  1. Wu, S., Beard, W.A., Pedersen, L.G. & Wilson, S.H. Chem. Rev. 114, 2759–2774 (2014).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Zietlow, L., Smith, L.A., Bessho, M. & Bessho, T. Biochemistry 48, 11817–11824 (2009).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Ceccaldi, R. et al. Nature 518, 258–262 (2015).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Mateos-Gomez, P.A. et al. Nature 518, 254–257 (2015).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Hogg, M., Sauer-Eriksson, A.E. & Johansson, E. Nucleic Acids Res. 40, 2611–2622 (2012).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Arana, M.E., Potapova, O., Kunkel, T.A. & Joyce, C.M. Biochemistry 50, 10126–10135 (2011).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Arana, M.E., Seki, M., Wood, R.D., Rogozin, I.B. & Kunkel, T.A. Nucleic Acids Res. 36, 3847–3856 (2008).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Kohzaki, M. et al. J. Cell Biol. 189, 1117–1127 (2010).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Prasad, R. et al. Nucleic Acids Res. 37, 1868–1877 (2009).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Yoshimura, M. et al. Mol. Cell 24, 115–125 (2006).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Lee, Y.-S., Gao, Y. & Yang, W. Nat. Struct. Mol. Biol. 22, 298–303 (2015).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Zahn, K.E., Averill, A.M., Aller, P., Wood, R.D. & Doublié, S. Nat. Struct. Mol. Biol. 22, 304–311 (2015).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Moon, A.F. et al. DNA Repair (Amst.) 6, 1709–1725 (2007).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Seki, M. et al. EMBO J. 23, 4484–4494 (2004).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. Beard, W.A., Shock, D.D., Batra, V.K., Prasad, R. & Wilson, S.H. J. Biol. Chem. 289, 31411–31422 (2014).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  16. Seeman, N.C., Rosenberg, J.M. & Rich, A. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 73, 804–808 (1976).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  17. Lee, H.R. & Johnson, K.A. J. Biol. Chem. 281, 36236–36240 (2006).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  18. Beard, W.A., Shock, D.D., Vande Berg, B.J. & Wilson, S.H. J. Biol. Chem. 277, 47393–47398 (2002).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  19. Hunter, W.N. et al. J. Biol. Chem. 262, 9962–9970 (1987).

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. William A. Beard and Samuel H. Wilson are at the Genome Integrity and Structural Biology Laboratory, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, National Institutes of Health, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, USA.,

    William A Beard & Samuel H Wilson

Authors
  1. William A Beard
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Samuel H Wilson
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Samuel H Wilson.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing financial interests.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Beard, W., Wilson, S. Structures of human DNA polymerases ν and θ expose their end game. Nat Struct Mol Biol 22, 273–275 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/nsmb.3006

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nsmb.3006

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing