title: Mechanism and evolution of DNA primases.
abstract: DNA primase synthesizes short RNA primers that replicative polymerases further elongate in order to initiate the synthesis of all new DNA strands. Thus, primase owes its existence to the inability of DNA polymerases to initiate DNA synthesis starting with 2 dNTPs. Here, we discuss the evolutionary relationships between the different families of primases (viral, eubacterial, archael, and eukaryotic) and the catalytic mechanisms of these enzymes. This includes how they choose an initiation site, elongate the growing primer, and then only synthesize primers of defined length via an inherent ability to count. Finally, the low fidelity of primases along with the development of primase inhibitors is described.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309, USA. Kuchta@colorado.edu
authors.forename: Robert D
authors.initials: RD
authors.lastname: Kuchta
authors.forename: Gudrun
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Stengel
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D019915:DNA Primase / Q000235:genetics*; D017931:DNA Primers / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D006801:Humans; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid
chemical_list: D017931:DNA Primers; D019915:DNA Primase