| Gene Symbol | POLA1 |
|---|---|
| Entrez Gene | 5422 |
| Alt Symbol | NSX, POLA, p180 |
| Species | Human |
| Gene Type | protein-coding |
| Description | polymerase (DNA directed), alpha 1, catalytic subunit |
| Other Description | DNA polymerase alpha 1 catalytic subunit|DNA polymerase alpha catalytic subunit|DNA polymerase alpha catalytic subunit p180|DNA polymerase alpha p180 subunit|polymerase (DNA-directed), alpha (70kD) |
| Swissprots | P09884 Q86UQ7 |
| Accessions | AAA52318 AAP13534 CAA47340 CAZ65678 CCQ43547 EAW99028 P09884 BM664024 BU508486 BX648513 CN364591 DW462890 X06745 CAA29920 XM_005274552 XP_005274609 XM_006724499 XP_006724562 XM_011545540 XP_011543842 XM_011545541 XP_011543843 NM_016937 NP_058633 |
| Function | Plays an essential role in the initiation of DNA replication. During the S phase of the cell cycle, the DNA polymerase alpha complex (composed of a catalytic subunit POLA1/p180, a regulatory subunit POLA2/p70 and two primase subunits PRIM1/p49 and PRIM2/p58) is recruited to DNA at the replicative forks via direct interactions with MCM10 and WDHD1. The primase subunit of the polymerase alpha complex initiates DNA synthesis by oligomerising short RNA primers on both leading and lagging strands. These primers are initially extended by the polymerase alpha catalytic subunit and subsequently transferred to polymerase delta and polymerase epsilon for processive synthesis on the lagging and leading strand, respectively. The reason this transfer occurs is because the polymerase alpha has limited processivity and lacks intrinsic 3' exonuclease activity for proofreading error, and therefore is not well suited for replicating long complexes. {ECO:0000269|PubMed:9518481}. |
| Subcellular Location | Nucleus. |
| Top Pathways | DNA replication, Purine metabolism, Pyrimidine metabolism |