DNA polymerase iota (Pol ι (Pol iota))

DNA polymerase iota is a specialized, low-fidelity enzyme of the Y family of DNA polymerases, encoded by the POLI gene in humans[5][6]. It is primarily involved in translesion synthesis (TLS), allowing DNA replication to occur across damaged templates—including lesions such as abasic sites and pyrimidine dimers—but it is error-prone and prone to specific misincorporations, especially opposite template thymine[2][3][4][6]. Pol ι also participates to a limited extent in base excision repair (BER) and is implicated in the cellular response to oxidative stress, mediating protection against oxidative DNA damage by interacting with other repair factors like XRCC1[3]. Uniquely, loss or deficiency of DNA polymerase iota causes increased replication rate and checkpoint failure, leading to genomic instability, while overexpression has been observed in various tumor types, suggesting a complex role in cancer biology[1][3].

Other names

Pol iotaPOLIhPolιDNA pol iota

For conceptual or exploratory inhibitors: Inhibition of translesion DNA synthesis or base excision repair activity, increasing cellular sensitivity to DNA-damaging agents