Archaeal family-B DNA polymerases interact specifically with uracil and hypoxanthine, stalling replication on encountering these deaminated bases in DNA template strands. The present review describes X-ray structural data which elucidate the mechanism of read-ahead recognition of uracil and suggests how this is coupled to cessation of polymerization. The possible role of read-ahead recognition of uracil/hypoxanthine in DNA repair is discussed, as is the observation that the feature appears to be limited to replicative polymerases of the archaeal domain.
© The Authors Journal compilation © 2009 Biochemical Society
2009
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