Purification and characterization of a new DNA polymerase modulator from the hyperthermophilic archaeon Thermococcus fumicolans.

During purification of the native alpha-like DNA polymerase from the hyperthermophilic euryarchaeote Thermococcus fumicolans, two activity peaks were detected after cation-exchange chromatography. One of the peaks (Ppol) was identified as the T. fumicolans DNA polymerase and the second peak (Pf) was shown to contain a factor which increased the DNA polymerase activity over 70-fold when tested with activated calf thymus DNA as substrate. The factor also stimulated nucleotide incorporation when using primed lambda DNA as substrate (approximately 8-fold), while inducing a very large decrease in the turnover rate of the enzyme. The factor, therefore, maximizes the ability of the DNA polymerase to synthesize small fragments, which is compatible with DNA repair or lagging strand DNA replication.