Organization and nucleotide sequence of the DNA polymerase gene from the archaeon Pyrococcus furiosus.

We cloned the gene encoding the thermostable DNA polymerase from the archaeon Pyrococcus furiosus. The DNA fragment of 2785 base pair (bp) containing the structural gene for DNA polymerase was sequenced. DNA polymerase (Pfu polymerase), as deduced from the DNA sequence, consisted of 775 amino acids, had a molecular weight of 90, 109, and was structurally homologous to the alpha-like DNA polymerases (family B) represented by human DNA polymerase alpha and Escherichia coli DNA polymerase II. An unrooted phylogenetic tree of the alpha-like DNA polymerases based on the amino acid sequence alignment was constructed. Pfu polymerase, with two other archaeon polymerases, constitutes a group with some animal viruses. The transcription initiation sites of the pol gene were identified by analysis of in vivo transcripts of both from P. furiosus and E. coli, and the promoters were assigned upstream of the pol coding region. A typical promoter sequence for the archaeon was found at a reasonable distance from the transcription initiation site in P. furiosus.