Viral and cellular DNA polymerase: comparison of activities with synthetic and natural RNA templates.

Two DNA polymerases purified from normal human lymphocytes are distinguishable from the viral reverse transcriptases of avian myeloblastosis virus and Mason-Pfizer monkey virus by their relative affinity for select templates. In this respect, the activity of the two normal human lymphocyte polymerases closely resembles the activity of Escherichia coli DNA polymerase 1. The viral and cellular DNA polymerases are equally active with the nonspecific template, poly(rA) . poly(dT). Criteria for distinguishing the activity of viral reverse transcriptase are discussed.