Physical association of the human base-excision repair enzyme uracil DNA glycosylase with the 70,000-dalton catalytic subunit of DNA polymerase alpha.

A monoclonal antibody prepared against a partially purified human uracil DNA glycosylase was found, on further purification of the enzyme, to be inactive against the glycosylase. However, immunoreactivity was observed in other protein fractions that contained DNA polymerase activity. The immunoreactive protein was purified to homogeneity and identified as a catalytic subunit of DNA polymerase alpha by molecular mass, by aphidicolin sensitivity, and by recognition by a monoclonal antibody against human KB cell DNA polymerase alpha. Our monoclonal antibody had no effect on homogeneous human uracil DNA glycosylase activity but severely inhibited the activity of the homogeneous human DNA polymerase alpha catalytic subunit. The suspicion that the two proteins were physically associated was confirmed by finding that, on mixing the DNA polymerase alpha subunit with the glycosylase, the latter was strongly inhibited by our monoclonal antibody. These results demonstrate that this monoclonal antibody recognizes not only the DNA polymerase alpha subunit but also the uracil DNA glycosylase when it is physically attached to the polymerase subunit. These results contribute to the definition of relationships between those proteins that may comprise the human base-excision repair multienzyme complex.