DNA polymerase III subunit gamma/tau explained

Symbol:	DNA_pol_III_sug/sutau
DNA polymerase III tau subunit V interacting with alpha
Pfam:	PF12170
Interpro:	IPR012763

The τ and γ subunits are part of the DNA polymerase III holoenzyme of prokaryotes. The protein family is characterized by the well-conserved first N-terminal domain, approx. 365 amino acids. The eukaryotic equivalent to the DNA clamp loader is replication factor C, with the subunits RFC1, RFC2, RFC3, RFC4, and RFC5.

The domain is also found in plants as gene STICHEL (STI), with similarity to cyanobacterial sequences.^[1] However, STI in plants is nuclear-localized and does not participate in genome duplication. It seems to instead regulate branching.^[2]

Notes and References

1. Khan H, Parks N, Kozera C, Curtis BA, Parsons BJ, Bowman S, Archibald JM . Plastid genome sequence of the cryptophyte alga Rhodomonas salina CCMP1319: lateral transfer of putative DNA replication machinery and a test of chromist plastid phylogeny . Molecular Biology and Evolution . 24 . 8 . 1832–1842 . August 2007 . 17522086 . 10.1093/molbev/msm101 . free .
2. Ilgenfritz H, Bouyer D, Schnittger A, Mathur J, Kirik V, Schwab B, Chua NH, Jürgens G, Hülskamp M . 6 . The Arabidopsis STICHEL gene is a regulator of trichome branch number and encodes a novel protein . Plant Physiology . 131 . 2 . 643–655 . February 2003 . 12586888 . 10.1104/pp.014209 . 166840 . 31931499 .