Functional Human Mitochondrial DNA Polymerase γ Forms a Heterotrimer*

By E. Yakubovskaya, Zhixin Chen, J. Carrodeguas, C. Kisker, D. Bogenhagen. Journal of Biological Chemistry, 2006

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Mitochondrial DNA polymerase γ (pol γ) is responsible for replication and repair of mtDNA and is mutated in individuals with genetic disorders such as chronic external ophthalmoplegia and Alpers syndrome. pol γ is also an adventitious target for toxic side effects of several antiviral compounds, and mutation of its proofreading exonuclease leads to accelerated aging in mouse models. We have used a variety of physical and functional approaches to study the interaction of the human pol γ catalytic subunit with both the wild-type accessory factor, pol γB, and a deletion derivative that is unable to dimerize and consequently is impaired in its ability to stimulate processive DNA synthesis. Our studies clearly showed that the functional human holoenzyme contains two subunits of the processivity factor and one catalytic subunit, thereby forming a heterotrimer. The structure of pol γ seems to be variable, ranging from a single catalytic subunit in yeast to a heterodimer in Drosophila and a heterotrimer in mammals.

Subfields: Molecular Biology

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