Decreased frequency and highly aberrant spectrum of ultraviolet-induced mutations in the hprt gene of mouse fibroblasts expressing antisense RNA to DNA polymerase zeta.

In the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, DNA polymerase zeta (pol zeta) is responsible for the great majority of mutations generated during error-prone translesion replication of DNA that contains UV-induced lesions. The catalytic subunit of pol zeta is encoded by the Rev3 gene. The orthologue of Rev3 has been cloned from higher eukaryotic cells, including human, but its role in mutagenesis and carcinogenesis remains obscure.