Proteolytic conversion of rat thymus DNA polymerase alpha to a more active form.

The relationship between two DNA polymerase alpha species from mammalian tissues has been resolved with the isolation of a protease from rat thymus which converts the larger alpha polymerase (7.3S) to a smaller (5.4S) size. The proteolytic activity is present only in the chromatin fraction and the limited proteolysis is accompanied by an increase in activity of the DNA polymerase, possibly consistent with a biological control function for this phenomenon.