Research Highlights
A review article on How DNA Polymerases Catalyze Replication and Repair with Contrasting Fidelity

Academician Ming-Daw Tsai, a Distinguished Research Fellow, and Dr. Wen-Jin Wu, an Associate Research Specialist at the Institute of Biological Chemistry have published an invited review article entitled “How DNA polymerases catalyze replication and repair with contrasting fidelity” in Nature Reviews Chemistry on September 6th. This article has also been selected as the cover article in this issue.

“DNA polymerases were named for their function of catalyzing DNA replication, a process that is necessary for growth and propagation of life. DNA involving Watson–Crick base-pairing can be synthesized with high fidelity, the structural and mechanistic origins of which have been investigated for many decades. Despite this, new chemical insights continue to be uncovered, including recent findings that may explain newly discovered functions for many DNA polymerases in DNA repair and mutation. Some of these reactions involve non-Watson–Crick base-pairing. In addition, certain DNA polymerases have been engineered for a wide variety of applications in biotechnology and biomedicine. This Review describes the molecular basis for the diverse and contrasting functions of different DNA polymerases, providing an up-to-date understanding of how these tasks are accomplished and the means by which we can benefit from them.”

The full research article entitled “How DNA polymerases catalyze replication and repair with contrasting fidelity” is available at Nature Reviews Chemistry website at: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41570-017-0068

Authors : Wen-Jin Wu, Wei Yang & Ming-Daw Tsai*  
Updated : 2017.09.25

Figure. The fidelities of DNA polymerases (pols) vary greatly, despite their mechanisms and structures being largely similar. 
In this Review, we describe the molecular basis for the diverse and contrasting functions of different DNA polymerases.