Translesion DNA polymerases in eukaryotes: what makes them tick?

ABSTRACT: Life as we know it, simply would not exist without DNA replication. All living organisms utilize a complex machinery to duplicate their genomes and the central role in this machinery belongs to replicative DNA polymerases, enzymes that are specifically designed to copy DNA. "Hassle-free" DNA duplication exists only in an ideal world, while in real life, it is constantly threatened by a myriad of diverse challenges. Among the most pressing obstacles that replicative polymerases often cannot overcome by themselves are lesions that distort the structure of DNA. Despite elaborate systems that cells utilize to cleanse their genomes of damaged DNA, repair is often incomplete. The persistence of DNA lesions obstructing the cellular replicases can have deleterious consequences. One of the mechanis

SUBMITTER: Vaisman A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5573590 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature