title: Distribution and roles of X-family DNA polymerases in eukaryotes.
abstract: Four types of DNA polymerase (Pol beta, Pol lambda, Pol mu and TdT) have been identified in eukaryotes as members of the polymerase X-family. Only vertebrates have all four types of enzyme. Plants and fungi have one or two X-family polymerases, while protostomes, such as fruit flies and nematodes, do not appear to have any. It is possible that the well-known metabolic pathways in which these enzymes are involved are restricted to the vertebrate world. The distribution of the DNA polymerases involved in DNA repair across the various biological kingdoms differs from that of the DNA polymerases involved in chromosomal DNA replication. In this review, we focus on the interesting pattern of distribution of the X-family enzymes across biological kingdoms and speculate on their roles.
authors.affiliation: Department of Applied Biological Science, Tokyo University of Science, Noda, Chiba, Japan.
authors.forename: Yukinobu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Uchiyama
authors.forename: Ryo
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Takeuchi
authors.forename: Hirofumi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kodera
authors.forename: Kengo
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Sakaguchi
mesh_terms: D004260:DNA Repair; D004259:DNA-Directed DNA Polymerase / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D005057:Eukaryotic Cells / Q000378:metabolism*; D019143:Evolution, Molecular
chemical_list: D004259:DNA-Directed DNA Polymerase