Calf thymus DNA polymerases alpha and delta are capable of highly processive DNA synthesis.

We have demonstrated that calf thymus DNA polymerases alpha and delta are capable of highly processive DNA synthesis. Processivity values between 300 and 2000 nucleotides were observed when poly(dA)-oligo(dT) or singly primed single-stranded circular bacteriophage M13 DNA at pH 6.0 and 1 mM magnesium chloride was used. These conditions do not correlate with conditions, pH 7.0 and 5 mM magnesium chloride, that support the maximum synthetic rate. Lowering the pH and magnesium concentration lowers the Km value of the reaction with respect to primer terminus concentration. Furthermore, under these same conditions, both polymerases become insensitive to dissociation from the template as a result of encountering the 5' ends of primers. Overall, these results suggest that the affinity of the polymerases for the primer termini is higher throughout the polymerization reaction of pH and magnesium concentrations are lowered from those favoring maximum synthetic rate. Experiments with short primer templates, however, indicate that this higher affinity does not cause the DNA polymerase to remain stably bound after synthesizing up to the end of the template.

Properties of initiation complexes formed between Escherichia coli DNA polymerase III holoenzyme and primed DNA in the absence of ATP.

In the presence of ATP, the beta subunit of the Escherichia coli DNA polymerase III holoenzyme can induce a stable initiation complex with the other holoenzyme subunits and primed DNA that is capable of highly processive synthesis. We have recently demonstrated that the ATP requirement for processive synthesis can be bypassed by an excess of the beta subunit (Crute, J., LaDuca, R., Johanson, K., McHenry, C., and Bambara, R. (1983) J. Biol. Chem. 258, 11344-11349). To examine the complex formed with excess beta subunit, and the lengths of the products of processive synthesis, we have designed a uniquely primed DNA template. Poly(dA)4000 was tailed with dCTP by terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase and the resulting template annealed to oligo(dG)12-18. In the presence of excess beta, the lengths of processively extended primers nearly equaled the full-length of the DNA template. Similar length synthesis occurred in the presence or absence of spermidine or single-stranded DNA-binding protein. When the beta subunit was present at normal holoenzyme stoichiometry it could induce highly processive synthesis without ATP, although inefficiently. Both ATP and excess beta increased the amount of initiation complex formation, but complexes produced with excess beta did so without the time delay observed with ATP, suggesting different mechanisms for formation. Almost 50% of initiation complexes formed without ATP survived a 30-min incubation with anti-beta IgG, reflecting a stability similar to those formed with ATP. The ability to form initiation complexes in the absence of ATP permitted the demonstration that cycling of the holoenzyme to a new primer, after chain termination with a dideoxynucleotide, is not affected by the presence of ATP.