OF WORK: Through studies of RT's mechanism, our laboratory, in collaboration with Dr. Kunkel's laboratory and others, discovered that the mutation propensity is linked to how strongly the enzyme stays attached to the DNA template during replication. Thus, if RT falls off the viral template during replication, RT tends to make an error (or mutation) at the point where it climbs back on the template and continues replication. This mechanism appears to account for a portion of the HIV-1 genetic hypervariability. Much insight into the mechanism of """"""""falling off"""""""" has been gained by combining structural information on RT with biochemical studies of the wild-type enzyme and enzymes altered in specific amino acid residues that control affinity of binding to the template. Future work emphasizes the role DNA structure plays in the key polymerase function of selection of the correct nucleotide for insertion into the growing DNA strand. We are studying the roles of amino acids that make contact with the template base and incoming nucleotide, especially R72, and the surrounding amino acids.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS)
Type
Intramural Research (Z01)
Project #
1Z01ES050161-07
Application #
6838388
Study Section
(LSB)
Project Start
Project End
Budget Start
Budget End
Support Year
7
Fiscal Year
2003
Total Cost
Indirect Cost
Name
U.S. National Inst of Environ Hlth Scis
Department
Type
DUNS #
City
State
Country
United States
Zip Code
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An, Changlong; Beard, William A; Chen, Desheng et al. (2013) Understanding the loss-of-function in a triple missense mutant of DNA polymerase ? found in prostate cancer. Int J Oncol 43:1131-40

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