Translesion DNA polymerases Pol ζ,Pol η,Pol ι,Pol κ and Rev1 are not essential for repeat-induced point mutation in Neurospora crassa

Abstract

Pol ζ, Pol η, Pol ι, Pol κ and Rev1 are specialized DNA polymerases that are able to synthesize DNA across a damaged template. DNA synthesis by such translesion polymerases can be mutagenic due to the miscoding nature of most damaged nucleotides. In fact, many mutational and hypermutational processes in systems ranging from yeast to mammals have been traced to the activity of such polymerases. We show however, that the translesion polymerases are dispensable for repeat-induced point mutation (RIP) inNeurospora crassa. Additionally, we demonstrate that theupr-1 gene, which encodes the catalytic subunit of Pol ζ, is a highly polymorphic locus in Neurospora.