A DNA polymerase is a member of a family of enzymes that catalyze the synthesis of DNA molecules from nucleoside triphosphates, the molecular precursors of DNA. These enzymes are essential for DNA replication and usually work in groups to create two identical DNA duplexes from a single original DNA duplex. During this process, DNA polymerase "reads" the existing DNA strands to create two new strands that match the existing ones.
These enzymes catalyze the chemical reactiondeoxynucleoside triphosphate + DNAn ⇌ pyrophosphate + DNAn+1.
c:o6-methyl-guanine pair in the polymerase-2 basepair position
crystal structure of rb69 gp43 in complex with dna containing thymine glycol
phi29 dna polymerase, orthorhombic crystal form, ssdna complex
Structures of archaeal polD and eukaryotic Polα. Not only is the general topology conserved, the two also share a bifunctional primase-and-PCNA-binding PIP-box sequence on the C-terminus, similar to both eukaryotic Polα and Polε.
Enzymes are proteins that act as biological catalysts by accelerating chemical reactions. The molecules upon which enzymes may act are called substrates, and the enzyme converts the substrates into different molecules known as products. Almost all metabolic processes in the cell need enzyme catalysis in order to occur at rates fast enough to sustain life. Metabolic pathways depend upon enzymes to catalyze individual steps. The study of enzymes is called enzymology and the field of pseudoenzyme analysis recognizes that during evolution, some enzymes have lost the ability to carry out biological catalysis, which is often reflected in their amino acid sequences and unusual 'pseudocatalytic' properties.
Eduard Buchner