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Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America logoLink to Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
. 1975 Feb;72(2):503–507. doi: 10.1073/pnas.72.2.503

RNA-primed DNA synthesis: specific catalysis by HeLa cell DNA polymerase alpha.

S Spadari, A Weissbach
PMCID: PMC432340  PMID: 1054833

Abstract

We have analyzed and compared the responses of the three major HeLa cell DNA polymerases (alpha, beta, and gamma) to a HeLa DNA template with short RNA or DNA primers hybridized to it. Only DNA polymerase alpha is able to synthesize DNA covalently bonded to the RNA primer via a 3' yields 5' phosphodiester bond. 32P transfer experiments showed that all combinations of ribo- and deoxyribonucleotides are represented in the RNA-DNA linkages but their distribution is nonrandom. The RNA-DNA linked molecules base-paired to a HeLa DNA template strand represent a possible "natural" in vitro primer-template for DNA polymerases and can be extended by all three DNA polymerases (alpha, beta, and gamma). These findings indicate that DNA polymerases beta and gamma are capable of DNA-primed but not RNA-PRIMED DNA synthesis, while DNA polymerase alpha is capable of both RNA-primed and DAN-primed DNA synthesis.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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