A Highly Conserved Family of Inactivated Archaeal B Family DNA Polymerases

Authors

Igor Rogozin, National Center for Biotechnology Information NLM, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD
Kira Makarova, National Center for Biotechnology Information NLM, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD
Youri Pavlov, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, Nebraska
Eugene Koonin, National Center for Biotechnology Information NLM, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD

Date of this Version

2008

Comments

Published in Biology Direct 2008, 3:32. Copyright © 2008 Rogozin et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. Used by permission.

Abstract

A widespread and highly conserved family of apparently inactivated derivatives of archaeal B-family DNA polymerases is described. Phylogenetic analysis shows that the inactivated forms comprise a distinct clade among archaeal B-family polymerases and that, within this clade, Euryarchaea and Crenarchaea are clearly separated from each other and from a small group of bacterial homologs. These findings are compatible with an ancient duplication of the DNA polymerase gene followed by inactivation and parallel loss in some of the lineages although contribution of horizontal gene transfer cannot be ruled out. The inactivated derivative of the archaeal DNA polymerase could form a complex with the active paralog and play a structural role in DNA replication.