The discovery that mutations in mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) can be pathogenic in humans
has increased interest in understanding mtDNA maintenance. The functional state of mtDNA …

▪ Abstract DNA replication fidelity is a key determinant of genome stability and is central to
the evolution of species and to the origins of human diseases. Here we review our current …

Abstract Three statistics (% GC, GC-skew, and AT-skew) can be used to describe the overall
patterns of nucleotide composition in DNA sequences. Fourfold degenerate third codon …

DNA polymerases catalyze the addition of deoxyribonucleotides onto DNA primers in a
template-directed manner. The requirement for template instruction distinguishes these …

Materials and Methods Materials. Taq DNA polymerase (lots 2A and 3) was purchased from
New England Biolabs. E. coli DNA polym-erase I, large (Klenow) fragment (Kf), was …

Methods M13mp2 DNA substrates were prepared as described (Kunkel, 1985a; Kunkel &
Soni, 1988). Briefly, bacteriophage M13mp2C141 was plated on minimal medium plates …

▪ Abstract DNA polymerase (pol) γ is the sole DNA polymerase in animal mitochondria.
Biochemical and genetic evidence document a key role for pol γ in mitochondrial DNA …

The physical isolation of mammalian mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) over 30 years ago marked
the beginning of studies of its structure, replication and the expression of its genetic content …

We demonstrate that despite lacking a 3'—5'proofreading exonuclease, the Thermus
aquaticus (Taq) DNA polymerase can catalyze highly accurate DNA synthesis in vitro. Under …

Reports of single base-pair substitutions that cause human genetic disease and that have
been located and characterized in an unbiased fashion were collated; 32% of point …