Cited by 504DNA Repair MechanismsDNA and Nucleic Acid ChemistryCarcinogens and Genotoxicity Assessment

Mechanisms of accurate translesion synthesis by human DNA polymerase η

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Masutani, Chikahide, Kusumoto, Rika, Iwai, Shigenori, Hanaoka, Fumio·2000·The EMBO Journal

Abstract

The XPV (xeroderma pigmentosum variant) gene encodes human DNA polymerase eta (pol eta), which is involved in the replication of damaged DNA. Pol eta catalyzes efficient and accurate translesion synthesis past cis-syn cyclobutane di-thymine lesions. Here we show that human pol eta can catalyze translesion synthesis past an abasic (AP) site analog, N-2-acetylaminofluorene (AAF)-modified guanine, and a cisplatin-induced intrastrand cross-link between two guanines. Pol eta preferentially incorporated dAMP and dGMP opposite AP, and dCMP opposite AAF-G and cisplatin-GG, but other nucleotides were also incorporated opposite these lesions. However, after incorporating an incorrect nucleotide opposite a lesion, pol eta could not continue chain elongation. In contrast, after incorporating the correct nucleotide opposite a lesion, pol eta could continue chain elongation, whereas pol alpha could not. Thus, the fidelity of translesion synthesis by human pol eta relies not only on the ability of this enzyme to incorporate the correct nucleotide opposite a lesion, but also on its ability to elongate only DNA chains that have a correctly incorporated nucleotide opposite a lesion.

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Crossref · 10.1093/emboj/19.12.3100

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  • Polymerase η can also replicate across abasic sites, AAF, guanine adducts, and cis-platinated guanines.

    “Polymerase η (pol. η) can also replicate across a basic sites, AAF (acetylaminofluorene), guanine adducts and cis-platinated guanines [352].”

    From Molecular Mechanisms of Ultraviolet Radiation‐Induced DNA Damage and Repair (2010) · cites this paper as [352]

    The Abstract and translesion-synthesis assay passages report that human polymerase η bypassed an abasic-site analog, AAF-modified guanine, and a cisplatin cross-link between two guanines. The claim is broader than the tested substrates: the paper does not establish bypass of abasic sites themselves or guanine adducts as a general class. (LLM, conf=0.83)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
  • Bypass of the most frequent UV lesions, TT-CPDs, by pol eta is error-free.

    “While pol eta is an error-prone polymerase for some DNA lesions, the bypass of the most frequent UV lesions, TT-CPDs by pol eta is error free ( 7 ).”

    From Predominant role of DNA polymerase eta and p53-dependent translesion synthesis in the survival of ultraviolet-irradiated human cells (2017) · cites this paper as [7]

    The Abstract describes efficient and accurate synthesis past cis-syn di-thymine lesions, and the translesion-synthesis section reports efficient bypass of a TT-CPD. But the paper also reports elongation from a mispaired primer on a CPD-containing template, so “error-free” overstates its finding of considerable accuracy. (LLM, conf=0.88)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
  • Translesion synthesis past a CPD is facilitated by polymerase η, which inserts adenines opposite both bases of a T∧T CPD, whereas a 6-4TT lesion may lead to insertion of G.

    “It has been reported that translesion synthesis past a CPD, facilitated by pol. η, with the insertion of adenines opposite both bases of a T∧T CPD [352], where as 6-4TT may lead to a G insertion.”
  • Polη ensures accurate replication of TT-CPDs, and its bypass may act at stalled replication forks and through post-replicative gap-filling.

    “It is well established that Pol␩ ensures accurate replication of TT-CPDs [21,22] and this bypass may act at the stalled replication fork [23,24] but also through a post-replicative gapfilling pathway [15,25].”

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Authors
Masutani, C., Kusumoto, R., Iwai, S., & Hanaoka, F.
Affiliations
  • The University of Osaka (JP)
  • Biomolecular Engineering Research Institute (Japan) (JP)
  • RIKEN (JP)
Corresponding author
Hanaoka, Fumio
Venue
The EMBO Journal
Published
2000-06-15
Volume
19
Issue
12
Pages
3100-3109
ISSN
  • 0261-4189 (ISSN-L)
  • 1460-2075
OpenAlex
W1968679294
Cited by
504
References
54
Citations by year
2026: 5 · 2025: 6 · 2024: 9 · 2023: 14 · 2022: 8 · 2021: 11 · 2020: 17 · 2019: 12 · 2018: 16 · 2017: 11 · 2016: 14 · 2015: 19 · 2014: 11 · 2013: 15 · 2012: 23
FWCI
12.65
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • The EMBO Journal (publishedVersion)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Funders
  • RIKEN
  • Core Research for Evolutional Science and Technology
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › DNA Repair Mechanisms
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › DNA and Nucleic Acid Chemistry
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Cancer Research › Carcinogens and Genotoxicity Assessment
Keywords
DNA polymerase eta, translesion synthesis, xeroderma pigmentosum variant, DNA repair, abasic sites, N-2-acetylaminofluorene, cyclobutane pyrimidine dimers, replication fidelity, nucleotide incorporation, chain extension, DNA polymerase alpha
MeSH terms
DNA Polymerase iota, Y-Family DNA Polymerases, Deoxyribonucleotides, DNA Damage, DNA Polymerase I, DNA-Directed DNA Polymerase, DNA Replication, Guanine, Humans, Xeroderma Pigmentosum, Mutagenesis

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