Exonucleolytic proofreading by calf thymus DNA polymerase delta

Hydrolysis of 3'-terminal mispairs in vitro by the 3'----5' exonuclease of DNA polymerase delta permits subsequent extension by DNA polymerase alpha

Purified DNA polymerase alpha, the major replicating enzyme found in mammalian cells, lacks an associated 3'----5' proofreading exonuclease that, in bacteria, contributes significantly to the accuracy of DNA replication. Calf thymus DNA polymerase alpha cannot remove mispaired 3'-termini, nor can it extend them efficiently. We designed a biochemical assay to search in cell extracts for a putative proofreading exonuclease that might function in concert with DNA polymerase alpha in vivo but dissociates from it during purification. Using this assay, we purified a 3'----5' exonuclease from calf thymus that preferentially hydrolyzes mispaired 3'-termini, permitting subsequent extension of the correctly paired 3'-terminus by DNA polymerase alpha. This exonuclease copurifies with a DNA polymerase activity that is biochemically distinct from DNA polymerase alpha and exhibits characteristics described for a second replicative DNA polymerase, DNA polymerase delta. In related studies, we showed that the 3'----5' exonuclease of authentic DNA polymerase delta, like the purified exonuclease, removes terminal mispairs, allowing extension by DNA polymerase alpha. These data suggest that a single proofreading exonuclease could be shared by DNA polymerases alpha and delta, functioning at the site of DNA replication in mammalian cells.

The mutational spectrum of single base-pair substitutions causing human genetic disease: patterns and predictions

Reports of single base-pair substitutions that cause human genetic disease and that have been located and characterized in an unbiased fashion were collated; 32% of point mutations were CG----TG or CG----CA transitions consistent with a chemical model of mutation via methylation-mediated deamination. This represents a 12-fold higher frequency than that predicted from random expectation, confirming that CG dinucleotides are indeed hotspots of mutation causing human genetic disease. However, since CG also appears hypermutable irrespective of methylation-mediated deamination, a second mechanism may also be involved in generating CG mutations. The spectrum of point mutations occurring outwith CG dinucleotides is also non-random, at both the mono- and dinucleotide, levels. An intrinsic bias in clinical detection was excluded since frequencies of specific amino acid substitutions did not correlate with the 'chemical difference' between the amino acids exchanged. Instead, a strong correlation was observed with the mutational spectrum predicted from the experimentally measured mispairing frequencies of vertebrate DNA polymerases alpha and beta in vitro. This correlation appears to be independent of any difference in the efficiency of enzymatic proofreading/mismatch-repair mechanisms but is consistent with a physical model of mutation through nucleotide misincorporation as a result of transient misalignment of bases at the replication fork. This model is further supported by an observed correlation between dinucleotide mutability and stability, possibly because transient misalignment must be stabilized long enough for misincorporation to occur. Since point mutations in human genes causing genetic disease neither arise by random error nor are independent of their local sequence environment, predictive models may be considered. We present a computer model (MUTPRED) based upon empirical data; it is designed to predict the location of point mutations within gene coding regions causing human genetic disease. The mutational spectrum predicted for the human factor IX gene was shown to resemble closely the observed spectrum of point mutations causing haemophilia B. Further, the model was able to predict successfully the rank order of disease prevalence and/or mutation rates associated with various human autosomal dominant and sex-linked recessive conditions. Although still imperfect, this model nevertheless represents an initial attempt to relate the variable prevalence of human genetic disease to the mutability inherent in the nucleotide sequences of the underlying genes.

Effect of DNA polymerase inhibitors on DNA repair in intact and permeable human fibroblasts: evidence that DNA polymerases delta and beta are involved in DNA repair synthesis induced by N-methyl-N'-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine

The involvement of DNA polymerases alpha, beta, and delta in DNA repair synthesis induced by N-methyl-N'-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine (MNNG) was investigated in human fibroblasts (HF). The effects of anti-(DNA polymerase alpha) monoclonal antibody, (p-n-butylphenyl)deoxyguanosine triphosphate (BuPdGTP), dideoxythymidine triphosphate (ddTTP), and aphidicolin on MNNG-induced DNA repair synthesis were investigated to dissect the roles of the different DNA polymerases. A subcellular system (permeable cells), in which DNA repair synthesis and DNA replication were differentiated by CsCl gradient centrifugation of BrdUMP density-labeled DNA, was used to examine the effects of the polymerase inhibitors. Another approach investigated the effects of several of these inhibitors on MNNG-induced DNA repair synthesis in intact cells by measuring the amount of [3H]thymidine incorporated into repaired DNA as determined by autoradiography and quantitation with an automated video image analysis system. In permeable cells, MNNG-induced DNA repair synthesis was inhibited 56% by 50 micrograms of aphidicolin/mL, 6% by 10 microM BuPdGTP, 13% by anti-(DNA polymerase alpha) monoclonal antibodies, and 29% by ddTTP. In intact cells, MNNG-induced DNA repair synthesis was inhibited 57% by 50 micrograms of aphidicolin/mL and was not significantly inhibited by microinjecting anti-(DNA polymerase alpha) antibodies into HF nuclei. These results indicate that both DNA polymerases delta and beta are involved in repairing DNA damage caused by MNNG.

On the DNA polymerase-a mutant: immunofluorescence assay of UV-induced thymidine dimers in Aphr-4-2 cells

Aphidicolin inhibits purified DNA polymerases-a and -d in vitro and inhibits mitosis in animal cells. The Chinese hamster V79 cell mutant, Aphr-4-2, was selected for its ability to form colonies in cultured medium supplemented with 1.0 microM aphidicolin. At this concentration, the parental wild-type V79 cells (clone 743x) have a survival rate of less than 10(-7). The mutant DNA polymerase-a is resistant to aphidicolin at concentrations that are inhibitory to the wild-type V79 DNA polymerase-a. The apparent Km for dCTP of the mutant DNA polymerase-a is consistently lower than that of the wild-type DNA polymerase-a. This mutant exhibits slow growth, mutator activity, hypersensitivity, and hypermutability to UV. We wanted to know the basis of UV hypersensitivity in this mutant. Using the antisera (UV2) raised against UV-induced thymidine dimers and a sensitive immunofluorescence assay to measure UV-induced thymidine dimers and with detection in ACAS 570 Workstation, we observed that 50% of the thymidine dimers disappeared within 5 h after irradiation and more than 80% of the dimers were removed within 24 h in both cell lines. These results indicate that the recognition, incision, and excision steps in nucleotide excision repair pathway are normal in the mutant. In order to know if there is a difference in DNA polymerase-a or -d activities in the parental V79(wt) and Aphr-4-2 cells, DNA polymerases were partially purified from the parental and the mutant cells using sequential centrifugation and column chromatographies on DEAE-cellulose (DE23 and DE52) to remove DNA polymerases-beta and -gamma. More than 90% of the enzymatic activities from both cells showed characteristics of DNA polymerase-a type on the basis of these criteria: sensitivity to butyl phenyl dGTP (1 microM) and to IgG raised against DNA polymerase-a (SJK 132-20). The results indicate that DNA replication involving a mutant DNA polymerase-a with altered affinity for dCTP may be responsible for the UV sensitivity and mutability of the mutant.

Fidelity of animal cell DNA polymerases alpha and delta and of a human DNA replication complex

We are investigating the mechanisms by which mutations are produced or avoided during DNA synthesis. Using in vitro fidelity assays, we have defined the error frequency and mutational specificity of the replicative animal cell DNA polymerases (alpha and delta). With DNA polymerase alpha or the four-subunit DNA polymerase alpha-DNA primase complex, neither of which contains detectable associated exonuclease activity, the fidelity of the polymerization step is low relative to spontaneous mutation rates in vivo. DNA polymerase delta is much more accurate, partly due to proofreading by the 3'----5' exonuclease activity associated with this polymerase. These fidelity studies have been extended to the replication apparatus present in extracts of human HeLa cells. The replication complex is highly accurate, suggesting that additional fidelity components are operating in the extract during bidirectional, semiconservative replication of double-stranded DNA. Nevertheless, in highly sensitive reversion assays, base substitution errors can be readily detected at frequencies greater than the estimated rate of spontaneous mutation in vivo. This suggests that fidelity components may be missing and/or that human cells depend heavily on postreplicative repair processes to correct replication errors.

A novel pathway for transversion mutation induced by dCTP misincorporation in a mutator strain of CHO cells

Intracellular imbalances of dCTP produce both T----C transitions and an unusual class of transversions (A----C) at the aprt locus of CHO cells. Our data suggest that this transversion pathway is the consequence of dCTP:T mispairs which are not efficiently proofread during DNA replication.

Aphidicolin hypersensitive mutant of Chinese hamster V79 fibroblasts that underproduces DNA polymerase-alpha antigen

Aphidicolin is a specific inhibitor of DNA polymerase-alpha and -delta from eukaryotic cells. Because of the specificity of this inhibitor, it is potentially a useful probe for the detailed studies of the function of these polymerases. DNA polymerase-alpha mutants isolated on the basis of resistance to aphidicolin have been described. We have isolated four variants that exhibit hypersensitivities to aphidicolin (Aphhs) from Chinese hamster V79/743X fibroblasts. These variants are designated aphhs-1, aphhs-2, aphhs-3 and aphhs-4. We reported here results of studies involving immunochemical characterization. The Aphhs phenotype in all mutants was stable for at least 30 days in the absence of selection pressure. The dCTP pools in the 743X and Aphhs cell lines were not significantly different. The level of total DNA polymerase activity in the crude extract from aphhs-2 cells was 30% of that observed in the parental 743X clone. We developed a method to quantitate DNA polymerase-alpha antigen at single cells in situ using monoclonal antibody SJK 132-20 and fluorescence pseudocolor image. We found that the antigen of DNA polymerase-alpha in aphhs-2 was 30-50% of that in the parental 743X cells. The underproduction of the antigen of DNA polymerase-alpha provides a basis for the observed Aphhs phenotype. Possible mechanisms for the underproduction of DNA polymerase-alpha in aphhs-2 clone are presented.

Fidelity of two retroviral reverse transcriptases during DNA-dependent DNA synthesis in vitro

We determined the fidelity of avian myeloblastosis virus and Moloney murine leukemia virus reverse transcriptases (RTs) during DNA synthesis in vitro using the M13mp2 lacZ alpha gene as a mutational target. Both RTs commit an error approximately once for every 30,000 nucleotides polymerized. DNA sequence analysis of mutants generated in a forward mutation assay capable of detecting many types of errors demonstrated that avian myeloblastosis virus RT produced a variety of different mutations. The majority (58%) were single-base substitutions; all of which resulted from the misincorporation of either dAMP or dGMP. Minus-one frameshifts were also common, composing about 30% of the mutations. In addition to single-base events, eight mutants contained sequence changes involving from 2 to 59 bases. The frequency of these mutants suggests that, at least during DNA synthesis in vitro, RTs also commit errors by mechanisms other than classical base miscoding and misalignment. We examined the ability of RTs to synthesize DNA from a mismatched primer terminus at a sequence where the mismatched base was complementary to the next base in the template. Unlike cellular DNA polymerases which polymerize from the mismatched template-primer, RTs preferred to polymerize from a rearranged template-primer containing a matched terminal base pair and an unpaired base in the template strand. The unusual preference for this substrate suggests that the interactions between RTs and the template-primer are different from those of cellular DNA polymerases. The overall error rate of RT in vitro is sufficient to account for the estimated mutation rate of these viruses.

Proofreading by the epsilon subunit of Escherichia coli DNA polymerase III increases the fidelity of calf thymus DNA polymerase alpha

Addition of the 3'----5' proofreading exonuclease, epsilon subunit of Escherichia coli DNA polymerase III, to DNA polymerase alpha from calf thymus has been studied. Alone, calf thymus DNA polymerase alpha terminates in vitro DNA synthesis upon insertion of noncomplementary nucleotides. Upon addition of the epsilon subunit, DNA polymerase alpha elongates the newly synthesized DNA as a result of hydrolysis of the 3'-terminal mispair. The fidelity of DNA polymerase alpha in vitro is increased 7-fold by addition of the exonuclease. The functional interaction between DNA polymerase alpha and the epsilon subunit is independent of any detectable physical association. This suggests that a mechanism for proofreading could exist in mammalian cells involving sequential catalysis by DNA polymerase alpha excision of errors by a separate 3'----5' exonuclease, and further elongation onto correctly base-paired 3' termini by DNA polymerase alpha.

Gene for proliferating-cell nuclear antigen (DNA polymerase delta auxiliary protein) is present in both mammalian and higher plant genomes

Proliferating-cell nuclear antigen (PCNA; also called cyclin) was originally described in proliferating mammalian cells as a nuclear protein with an apparent Mr of 33,000-36,000 and recently was found to be a DNA polymerase delta auxiliary protein. To elucidate whether PCNA/cyclin is a universal protein necessary for proliferation of eukaryotes, a search was conducted for PCNA/cyclin homologues in higher plants. In Southern blot-hybridization analysis, a rat PCNA/cyclin cDNA probe hybridized with homologous sequences in genomic DNAs from rice, soybean, and tobacco. A PCNA/cyclin-related molecular clone (pCJ-1) was isolated from rice DNA and was partially sequenced. The pCJ-1 probe hybridized with a 1.2-kilobase transcript in RNA from rice root tips and shoots. Immunoblot analysis of the soluble extract of soybean root tips with monospecific anti-PCNA/cyclin identified an immunoreactive protein with an apparent Mr of 34,000. Immunohistochemical analysis revealed the presence of an immunoreactive PCNA/cyclin protein in the nuclei of cells in the meristem of soybean root tips. The highly homologous nature of the gene for PCNA/cyclin throughout the animal and plant kingdoms suggests that the product of the gene plays an essential role in DNA replication in eukaryotes.

A novel pathway for transversion mutation induced by dCTP misincorporation in a mutator strain of CHO cells

Intracellular imbalances of dCTP produce both T----C transitions and an unusual class of transversions (A----C) at the aprt locus of CHO cells. Our data suggest that this transversion pathway is the consequence of dCTP:T mispairs which are not efficiently proofread during DNA replication.

Calf thymus DNA polymerase delta independent of proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA)

DNA polymerase delta from calf thymus was purified under conditions that minimized proteolysis to a specific activity of 27,000 units/mg. The four step isolation procedure included phosphocellulose, hydroxyapatite, heparin-Sepharose and FPLC-MonoS. This enzyme consists of four polypeptides with Mr of 140, 125, 48 and 40 kilodaltons. Velocity gradient sedimentation in glycerol removed the 48 kDa polypeptide while the other three sedimented with the DNA polymerase activity. The biochemical properties of the three subunit enzyme and the copurification of 3'----5' exonuclease activity were typical for a bona fide DNA polymerase delta. Tryptic peptide analysis showed that the 140 kDa polypeptide was different from the catalytic 180 kDa polypeptide of calf thymus DNA polymerase alpha. Both high Mr polypeptides (140 and 125 kDa) were catalytically active as analysed in an activity gel. Four templates were used by DNA polymerase delta with different preferences, namely poly(dA)/oligo(dT)12-18 much much greater than activated DNA greater than poly(dA-dT) greater than primed single-stranded M13DNA. Calf thymus proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) could not stimulated this DNA polymerase delta in any step of the isolation procedure. If tested on poly(dA)/oligo(dT)12-18 (base ratio 10:1), PCNA had no stimulatory effect on DNA polymerase delta when tested with low enzyme DNA ratio nor did it change the kinetic behaviour of the enzyme. DNA polymerase delta itself did not contain PCNA. The enzyme had an intrinsic processivity of several thousand bases, when tested either on the homopolymer poly(dA)/oligo(dT)12-18 (base ratio 64:1) or on primed single-stranded M13DNA. Contrary to DNA polymerase alpha, no pausing sites were seen with DNA polymerase delta. Under optimal in vitro replication conditions the enzyme could convert primed single-stranded circular M13 DNA of 7,200 bases to its double-stranded form in less than 10 min. This supports that a PCNA independent DNA polymerase delta exists in calf thymus in addition to a PCNA dependent enzyme (Lee, M.Y.W.T. et al. (1984) Biochemistry 23, 1906-1913).

Fidelity of DNA synthesis in a mammalian in vitro replication system

We have used the simian virus 40 (SV40)-based shuttle vector pZ189 in a forward-mutation assay to determine the fidelity of DNA replication in the in vitro DNA replication system developed by J.J. Li and T.J. Kelly (Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 81:6973-6977, 1984). We find that very few base substitution errors (approximately 1/180,000 bases incorporated) are made during in vitro replication of the pZ189 vector in a system derived from CV-1 monkey cells. This replication is completely dependent on added SV40 T antigen and presumably reflects synthesis that is initiated at the SV40 replication origin. The observed level of fidelity is far greater than that reported for in vitro replication of DNA by conventionally purified eucaryotic DNA polymerases alpha and beta. Thus, there must be additional cellular factors in the crude in vitro system that serve to enhance the fidelity of DNA replication.

Fidelity of two retroviral reverse transcriptases during DNA-dependent DNA synthesis in vitro

We determined the fidelity of avian myeloblastosis virus and Moloney murine leukemia virus reverse transcriptases (RTs) during DNA synthesis in vitro using the M13mp2 lacZ alpha gene as a mutational target. Both RTs commit an error approximately once for every 30,000 nucleotides polymerized. DNA sequence analysis of mutants generated in a forward mutation assay capable of detecting many types of errors demonstrated that avian myeloblastosis virus RT produced a variety of different mutations. The majority (58%) were single-base substitutions; all of which resulted from the misincorporation of either dAMP or dGMP. Minus-one frameshifts were also common, composing about 30% of the mutations. In addition to single-base events, eight mutants contained sequence changes involving from 2 to 59 bases. The frequency of these mutants suggests that, at least during DNA synthesis in vitro, RTs also commit errors by mechanisms other than classical base miscoding and misalignment. We examined the ability of RTs to synthesize DNA from a mismatched primer terminus at a sequence where the mismatched base was complementary to the next base in the template. Unlike cellular DNA polymerases which polymerize from the mismatched template-primer, RTs preferred to polymerize from a rearranged template-primer containing a matched terminal base pair and an unpaired base in the template strand. The unusual preference for this substrate suggests that the interactions between RTs and the template-primer are different from those of cellular DNA polymerases. The overall error rate of RT in vitro is sufficient to account for the estimated mutation rate of these viruses.

The accuracy of reverse transcriptase from HIV-1

A study was conducted to determine the fidelity of DNA synthesis catalyzed in vitro by the reverse transcriptase from a human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1). Like other retroviral reverse transcriptases, the HIV-1 enzyme does not correct errors by exonucleolytic proofreading. Measurements with M13mp2-based fidelity assays indicated that the HIV-1 enzyme, isolated either from virus particles or from Escherichia coli cells infected with a plasmid expressing the cloned gene, was exceptionally inaccurate, having an average error rate per detectable nucleotide incorporated of 1/1700. It was, in fact, the least accurate reverse transcriptase described to date, one-tenth as accurate as the polymerases isolated from avian myeloblastosis or murine leukemia viruses, which have average error rates of approximately 1/17,000 and approximately 1/30,000, respectively. DNA sequence analyses of mutations generated by HIV-1 polymerase showed that base substitution, addition, and deletion errors were all produced. Certain template positions were mutational hotspots where the error rate could be as high as 1 per 70 polymerized nucleotides. The data are consistent with the notion that the exceptional diversity of the HIV-1 genome results from error-prone reverse transcription.

Changes in cyclin/proliferating cell nuclear antigen distribution during DNA repair synthesis

UV irradiation of quiescent human fibroblasts immediately triggers the appearance of the nuclear protein cyclin/proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) as detected by indirect immunofluorescent staining after methanol fixation. This was found to be independent of new synthesis of cyclin/PCNA by two-dimensional gel analysis and cycloheximide treatment. The intensity of the immunofluorescent staining of cyclin/PCNA observed in UV-irradiated cells corresponded with the UV dose used and with the DNA repair synthesis detected by autoradiography. The nuclear staining remains as long as DNA repair activity is detected in the cells. By extracting the UV-irradiated quiescent cells with Triton X-100 and fixing with formaldehyde, it was possible to demonstrate by indirect immunofluorescence rapid changes in the cyclin/PCNA population after irradiation, a small proportion (5-10%) of which is tightly associated to the nucleus as determined by high salt extraction. By incubating at low temperature and depleting the ATP pools of the cells before UV irradiation, we have demonstrated that the changes in cyclin/PCNA distribution observed involve at least two different nuclear associations.

Fidelity of a human cell DNA replication complex

We have measured the fidelity of bidirectional, semiconservative DNA synthesis by a human DNA replication complex in vitro. Replication was performed by extracts of HeLa cells in the presence of simian virus 40 (SV40) large tumor antigen by using a double-stranded phage M13mp2 DNA template containing the SV40 origin of replication and either of two different target sequences for scoring mutations in the lacZ alpha-complementation gene, which encodes the alpha region (specifying the amino-terminal portion) of beta-galactosidase. Replicative synthesis was substantially more accurate than synthesis by the human DNA polymerase alpha-DNA primase complex purified from HeLa cell extracts by immunoaffinity chromatography, suggesting that additional factors or activities in the extract may increase fidelity during bidirectional replication. However, by using a sensitive opal codon reversion assay, single-base substitution errors were readily detected in the replication products at frequencies significantly higher than estimated spontaneous mutation rates in vivo. These data suggest that additional fidelity factors may be present during chromosomal replication in vivo and/or that the fidelity of replication alone does not account for the low spontaneous mutation rates in eukaryotes.

Fidelity of DNA synthesis in a mammalian in vitro replication system

We have used the simian virus 40 (SV40)-based shuttle vector pZ189 in a forward-mutation assay to determine the fidelity of DNA replication in the in vitro DNA replication system developed by J.J. Li and T.J. Kelly (Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 81:6973-6977, 1984). We find that very few base substitution errors (approximately 1/180,000 bases incorporated) are made during in vitro replication of the pZ189 vector in a system derived from CV-1 monkey cells. This replication is completely dependent on added SV40 T antigen and presumably reflects synthesis that is initiated at the SV40 replication origin. The observed level of fidelity is far greater than that reported for in vitro replication of DNA by conventionally purified eucaryotic DNA polymerases alpha and beta. Thus, there must be additional cellular factors in the crude in vitro system that serve to enhance the fidelity of DNA replication.

Calf thymus DNA polymerase delta: purification, biochemical and functional properties of the enzyme after its separation from DNA polymerase alpha, a DNA dependent ATPase and proliferating cell nuclear antigen

We have established a novel procedure to purify calf thymus DNA polymerase delta from cytoplasmic extracts. The enzyme has typical properties of DNA polymerase delta including a 3' - greater than 5' exonuclease activity and efficiently replicates natural occurring genomes such as primed single-stranded M13 DNA and single-stranded porcine circovirus DNA, this last one thanks to an associated or contaminating primase activity. A processivity of at least a thousand bases was evident and this in the apparent absence of proliferating cell nuclear antigen. The enzyme was purified through a procedure that allows the simultaneous isolation of DNA polymerase delta, DNA polymerase alpha-primase and a DNA dependent ATPase. All these enzymes coeluted from a phosphocellulose column. After chromatography on hydroxylapatite DNA polymerase delta separated from the coeluting DNA polymerase alpha and DNA dependent ATPase. Separation of the latter two was achieved on heparin-Sepharose. DNA polymerase delta was further purified by heparin-Sepharose and fast protein liquid chromatography. Purified DNA polymerase delta was resistant to the DNA polymerase alpha inhibitors BuPdGTP and BuAdATP and did not react with DNA polymerase alpha monoclonal and polyclonal antibodies. Based on this isolation protocol we can start to test biochemically the hypothesis whether DNA polymerase delta and DNA polymerase alpha might act coordinately at the replication fork as leading and lagging strand replicases, respectively.

Characterization of a stable, major DNA polymerase alpha species devoid of DNA primase activity

We have purified from Xenopus laevis ovaries a major DNA polymerase alpha species that lacked DNA primase activity. This primase-devoid DNA polymerase alpha species exhibited the same sensitivity as the DNA polymerase DNA primase alpha to BuAdATP and BuPdGTP, nucleotide analogs capable of distinguishing between DNA polymerase delta and DNA polymerase DNA primase alpha. The primase-devoid DNA polymerase alpha species also lacked significant nuclease activity indicative of the alpha-like (rather than delta-like) nature of the DNA polymerase. Using a poly(dT) template, the primase-devoid DNA polymerase alpha species elongated an oligo(rA10) primer up to 51-fold more effectively than an oligo(dA10) primer. In direct contrast, the DNA polymerase DNA primase alpha complex showed only a 4.6-fold preference for oligoribonucleotide primers at the same template/primer ratio. The catalytic differences between the two DNA polymerase alpha species were most dramatic at a template/primer ratio of 300. The primase-devoid DNA polymerase alpha species was found at high levels throughout oocyte and embryonic development. This suggests that the primase-devoid DNA polymerase alpha species could play a physiological role during DNA chain elongation in vivo, even if it is chemically related to DNA polymerase DNA primase alpha.