Polymerase (DNA directed) nu is a
protein
Proteins are large biomolecules and macromolecules that comprise one or more long chains of amino acid residue (biochemistry), residues. Proteins perform a vast array of functions within organisms, including Enzyme catalysis, catalysing metab ...
in humans that is encoded by the POLN
gene
In biology, the word gene has two meanings. The Mendelian gene is a basic unit of heredity. The molecular gene is a sequence of nucleotides in DNA that is transcribed to produce a functional RNA. There are two types of molecular genes: protei ...
.
It is a
family A DNA polymerase
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 t ...
,
considered to be the least effective of the polymerase enzymes.
However, DNA polymerase nu plays an active role in
homology repair during cellular responses to crosslinks, fulfilling its role in a complex with
helicase
Helicases are a class of enzymes that are vital to all organisms. Their main function is to unpack an organism's genetic material. Helicases are motor proteins that move directionally along a nucleic double helix, separating the two hybridized ...
.
References
Further reading
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External links
PDBe-KBprovides an overview of all the structure information available in the PDB for Human DNA polymerase nu
{{gene-4-stub
DNA replication
DNA-binding proteins