Nucleic acids research
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Nucleic acids research · Aug 1977
Variation of DNA polymerases-alpha, -beta. and -gamma during perinatal tissue growth and differentiation.
The activities of the three known DNA polymerases-alpha, beta-, and -gamma were determined in rat brain neurons, cardiac muscle and spleen, and were correlated with the rate of cell proliferation during perinatal development. In neurons and cardiac muscle, which stop dividing before birth, DNA polymerase-alpha activity drops sharply from a high level with the approach of term and disappears at approximately two weeks postnatal age. ⋯ DNA polymerase-beta and -gamma activities show essentially no correlation with the rate of cell division. Thus, these enzymes are probably responsible for repair type processes rather than for DNA replecation.