
Stereospecificity of human DNA polymerases α,β,γ,§ and ɛ, HIV-reverse transcriptase, HSV- DNA polymerase, calf thymus terminal transferase andEscherichia coliDNA polymerase I in recognizing D- and L-thymidine 5′-triphosphate as substrate
Author(s) -
Federico Focher,
Giovanni Maga,
A. Bendiscioli,
Massimo L. Capobianco,
Francesco Colonna,
Anna Garbesi,
Silvio Spadari
Publication year - 1995
Publication title -
nucleic acids research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 9.008
H-Index - 537
eISSN - 1362-4954
pISSN - 0305-1048
DOI - 10.1093/nar/23.15.2840
Subject(s) - dna polymerase , biology , microbiology and biotechnology , dna polymerase ii , polymerase , dna clamp , dna polymerase i , dna polymerase mu , reverse transcriptase , biochemistry , dna replication , rna directed dna polymerase , dna , rna , circular bacterial chromosome , gene
L-beta-Deoxythymidine (L-dT), the optical enantiomer of D-beta-deoxythymidine (D-dT), and L-enantiomers of nucleoside analogs, such as 5-iodo-2'-deoxy-L-uridine (L-IdU) and E-5-(2-bromovinyl)-2'-deoxy-L-uridine (L-BVdU), are not recognized in vitro by human cytosolic thymidine kinase (TK), but are phosphorylated by herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) TK and inhibit HSV-1 proliferation in infected cells. Here we report that: (i) L-dT is selectively phosphorylated in vivo to L-dTMP by HSV-1 TK and L-dTMP is further phosphorylated to the di- and triphosphate forms by non-stereospecific cellular kinases; (ii) L-dTTP not only inhibits HSV-1 DNA polymerase in vitro, but also human DNA polymerase alpha, gamma, delta and epsilon, human immunodeficiency virus reverse transcriptase (HIV-1 RT), Escherichia coli DNA polymerase 1 and calf thymus terminal transferase, although DNA polymerase beta was resistant; (iii) whereas DNA polymerase beta, gamma, delta and epsilon are unable to utilize L-dTTP as a substrate, the other DNA polymerases clearly incorporate at least one L-dTMP residue, with DNA polymerase alpha and HIV-1 RT able to further elongate the DNA chain by catalyzing the formation of the phosphodiester bond between the incorporated L-dTMP and an incoming L-dTTP; (iv) incorporated L-nucleotides at the 3'-OH terminus make DNA more resistant to 3'-->5' exonucleases. In conclusion, our results suggest a possible mechanism for the inhibition of viral proliferation by L-nucleosides.