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- Title
Mitochondrial DNA replication: a PrimPol perspective.
- Authors
Bailey, Laura J.; Doherty, Aidan J.
- Abstract
PrimPol, (primase-polymerase), the most recently identified eukaryotic polymerase, has roles in both nuclear and mitochondrial DNA maintenance. PrimPol is capable of acting as a DNA polymerase, with the ability to extend primers and also bypass a variety of oxidative and photolesions. In addition, PrimPol also functions as a primase, catalysing the preferential formation of DNA primers in a zinc finger-dependent manner. Although PrimPol's catalytic activities have been uncovered in vitro, we still know little about how and why it is targeted to the mitochondrion and what its key roles are in the maintenance of this multicopy DNA molecule. Unlike nuclear DNA, the mammalian mitochondrial genome is circular and the organelle has many unique proteins essential for its maintenance, presenting a differing environment within which PrimPol must function. Here, we discuss what is currently known about the mechanisms of DNA replication in the mitochondrion, the proteins that carry out these processes and how PrimPol is likely to be involved in assisting this vital cellular process.
- Subjects
MITOCHONDRIAL DNA; DNA replication; PRIMASES; DNA polymerases; NUCLEAR DNA
- Publication
Biochemical Society Transactions, 2017, Vol 45, Issue 2, p513
- ISSN
0300-5127
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1042/BST20160162