General misincorporation frequency: Re-evaluation of the fidelity of DNA polymerases.

DNA replication in cells is performed in the presence of four dNTPs and four rNTPs. In this study, we re-evaluated the fidelity of DNA polymerases using the general misincorporation frequency consisting of three incorrect dNTPs and four rNTPs but not using the traditional special misincorporation frequency with only the three incorrect dNTPs. We analyzed both the general and special misincorporation frequencies of nucleotide incorporation opposite dG, rG, or 8-oxoG by Pseudomonas aeruginosa phage 1 (PaP1) DNA polymerase Gp90 or Sulfolobus solfataricus DNA polymerase Dpo4. Both misincorporation frequencies of other DNA polymerases published were also summarized and analyzed. The general misincorporation frequency is obviously higher than the special misincorporation frequency for many DNA polymerases, indicating the real fidelity of a DNA polymerase should be evaluated using the general misincorporation frequency.