There are fifteen different DNA polymerases encoded in mammalian genomes, which are specialized for replication, repair or the tolerance of DNA damage. New evidence is emerging for lesion-specific and tissue-specific functions of DNA polymerases. Many point mutations that occur in cancer cells arise from the error-generating activities of DNA polymerases. However, the ability of some of these enzymes to bypass DNA damage may actually defend against chromosome instability in cells and at least one DNA polymerase, POLζ, is a suppressor of spontaneous tumorigenesis. Because DNA polymerases can help cancer cells tolerate DNA damage, some of these enzymes may be viable targets for therapeutic strategies.

Although a defect in the DNA polymerase POLQ leads to ionizing radiation sensitivity in mammalian cells, the relevant enzymatic pathway has not been identified. Here we define the specific mechanism by which POLQ restricts harmful DNA instability. Our experiments show that Polq-null murine cells are selectively hypersensitive to DNA strand breaking agents, and that damage resistance requires the DNA polymerase activity of POLQ. Using a DNA break end joining assay in cells, we monitored repair of DNA ends with long 3′ single-stranded overhangs. End joining events retaining much of the overhang were dependent on POLQ, and independent of Ku70. To analyze the repair function in more detail, we examined immunoglobulin class switch joining between DNA segments in antibody genes. POLQ participates in end joining of a DNA break during immunoglobulin class-switching, producing insertions of base pairs at the joins with homology to IgH switch-region sequences. Biochemical experiments with purified human POLQ protein revealed the mechanism generating the insertions during DNA end joining, relying on the unique ability of POLQ to extend DNA from minimally paired primers. DNA breaks at the IgH locus can sometimes join with breaks in Myc, creating a chromosome translocation. We found a marked increase in Myc/IgH translocations in Polq-defective mice, showing that POLQ suppresses genomic instability and genome rearrangements originating at DNA double-strand breaks. This work clearly defines a role and mechanism for mammalian POLQ in an alternative end joining pathway that suppresses the formation of chromosomal translocations. Our findings depart from the prevailing view that alternative end joining processes are generically translocation-prone.

Human DNA polymerase N (POLN or pol ) is the most recently discovered nuclear DNA polymerase in the human genome. It is an A-family DNA polymerase related to Escherichia coli pol I, human POLQ, and Drosophila Mus308. We report the first purification of the recombinant enzyme and examination of its biochemical properties, as a step toward understanding the functions of POLN. Unusual for an A-family DNA polymerase, POLN is a low fidelity enzyme incorporating T opposite template G with a frequency of 0.45 and G opposite template T with a frequency of 0.021. The frequency of misincorporation of T opposite template G is higher than any other known DNA polymerase. POLN has a processivity of DNA synthesis (1-100 nucleotides) similar to the exonuclease-deficient Klenow fragment of E. coli pol I, is inhibited by dideoxynucleotides, and resistant to aphidicolin. The strand displacement activity of POLN was higher than exonuclease-deficient Klenow fragment. Furthermore, POLN can perform translesion synthesis past thymine glycol, a common endogenous and radiationinduced product of reactive oxygen species damage to DNA. Thymine glycol blocks DNA synthesis by most DNA polymerases, but POLN was particularly adept at efficient and accurate translesion synthesis past a 5S-thymine glycol.The human genome contains 15 distinct known DNA polymerase genes, and these are classified into four families A, B, X, and Y based on their amino acid sequences (1). Human DNA polymerase N (POLN), 2 the most recently discovered nuclear DNA polymerase, is an A-family enzyme with unknown function. The gene on chromosome 4p16.2 encodes a protein of 900 amino acid residues with a molecular mass of 100 kDa (2). The prototypical A-family DNA polymerase, Escherichia coli pol I is a high fidelity DNA polymerase that contributes to the maturation of Okazaki fragments during DNA replication and in gap-filling during base excision repair (BER), nucleotide excision repair (NER), and repair of DNA interstrand cross-links.Human POLQ, another A-family DNA polymerase, is similar to the Drosophila nuclear DNA polymerase Mus308 (3) in that it encodes both a DNA/RNA helicase domain and an A-family DNA polymerase domain (4, 5). By contrast, POLN has only the DNA polymerase domain. The POLN gene is encoded only in vertebrate genomes, but not in invertebrates or any lower eukaryotes. Possibly POLN has a role related to organ systems that are especially developed in vertebrates, such as the adaptive immune system or the brain. Expression studies of POLN are limited, but expression of the gene has been detected by Northern blotting in testes, heart and skeletal muscle tissue (2) and by expression sequence tagging in prostate, muscle, brain, and other organs. In cells from a human neuroblastoma patient, a chromosome fusion (1, 4) disrupting the DNA polymerase domain coding sequence of POLN was observed at diagnosis and at relapse. A (4, 17) fusion was detected at relapse only (6). It is possible that POLN might serve as a tumor suppressor in some cell types and that loss...

DNA polymerase ν (POLN or pol ν) is a newly discovered A family polymerase that generates a high error rate when incorporating nucleotides opposite dG; its translesion DNA synthesis (TLS) capability has only been demonstrated for high fidelity replication bypass of thymine glycol lesions. In the current investigation, we describe a novel TLS substrate specificity of pol ν, demonstrating that it is able to bypass exceptionally large DNA lesions whose linkages are through the DNA major groove. Specifically, pol ν catalyzed efficient and high fidelity TLS past peptides linked to N6-dA via a reduced Schiff base linkage with a γ-hydroxypropano-dA. Additionally, pol ν could bypass DNA interstrand cross-links with linkage between N6-dAs in complementary DNA strands. However, the chemically identical DNA−peptide and DNA interstrand cross-links completely blocked pol ν when they were located in the minor groove via a N2-dG linkage. Furthermore, we showed that pol ν incorporated a nucleotide opposite the 1,N6-etheno-dA (εdA) in an error-free manner and (+)-trans-anti-benzo[a]pyrene-7,8-dihydrodiol 9,10-epoxide-dA [(+)-BPDE-dA] in an error-prone manner, albeit with a greatly reduced capability. Collectively, these data suggest that although pol ν bypass capacity cannot be generalized to all major groove DNA adducts, this polymerase could be involved in TLS when genomic replication is blocked by extremely large major groove DNA lesions. In view of the recent observation that pol ν may have a role in cellular tolerance to DNA cross-linking agents, our findings provide biochemical evidence for the potential functioning of this polymerase in the bypass of some DNA−protein and DNA−DNA cross-links.