delta DNA polymerase complex

GO:0043625 · Other · Multiprotein complex · Proposed

A multimeric DNA polymerase enzyme complex whose subunit composition differs among species and that functions in DNA replication, mismatch repair, and excision repair; in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, DNA polymerase delta contains Pol3, Pol31, and Pol32 subunits. [GO:0043625]

Synonyms: delta-DNA polymerase complex

Part of: GO:0043601 — nuclear replisome (no local record)

UniProt location names: UniProt Consortium, CC BY 4.0. Reference label and route sources.

Components

Component	Type	Part of / acts on	Grounding	Genes	Essential	Role
Pol3 catalytic subunit	Protein	part of	Reviewed label only (reviewed name; no accession asserted)	POL3	UNKNOWN	Catalytic Pol3 constituent of Saccharomyces cerevisiae DNA polymerase delta. `GO:0043625` GO:0043625 defines the delta DNA polymerase complex as a multimeric DNA polymerase enzyme complex and notes a three-subunit Saccharomyces cerevisiae form. `PMID:9677406` Burgers and Gerik cloned and co-overexpressed Saccharomyces cerevisiae POL3, POL31 and POL32 to reconstitute Pol delta. `PMID:11568188` Johansson et al. established that purified Saccharomyces cerevisiae DNA polymerase delta contains Pol3, Pol31 and Pol32 at 1:1:1 stoichiometry.
Pol31 subunit	Protein	part of	Reviewed label only (reviewed name; no accession asserted)	POL31	UNKNOWN	Pol31 structural constituent of Saccharomyces cerevisiae DNA polymerase delta. `GO:0043625` GO:0043625 defines the delta DNA polymerase complex as a multimeric DNA polymerase enzyme complex and notes a three-subunit Saccharomyces cerevisiae form. `PMID:9677406` Burgers and Gerik cloned and co-overexpressed Saccharomyces cerevisiae POL3, POL31 and POL32 to reconstitute Pol delta. `PMID:11568188` Johansson et al. established that purified Saccharomyces cerevisiae DNA polymerase delta contains Pol3, Pol31 and Pol32 at 1:1:1 stoichiometry.
Pol32 subunit	Protein	part of	Reviewed label only (reviewed name; no accession asserted)	POL32	UNKNOWN	Pol32 structural constituent of Saccharomyces cerevisiae DNA polymerase delta. `GO:0043625` GO:0043625 defines the delta DNA polymerase complex as a multimeric DNA polymerase enzyme complex and notes a three-subunit Saccharomyces cerevisiae form. `PMID:9677406` Burgers and Gerik cloned and co-overexpressed Saccharomyces cerevisiae POL3, POL31 and POL32 to reconstitute Pol delta. `PMID:11568188` Johansson et al. established that purified Saccharomyces cerevisiae DNA polymerase delta contains Pol3, Pol31 and Pol32 at 1:1:1 stoichiometry.

Taxonomic distribution

NCBITaxon:2759 Eukaryota — COMMON: GO:0043625 defines a eukaryotic delta DNA polymerase complex and constrains the cellular-component term to Eukaryota. [GO:0043625]

Canonical examples

NCBITaxon:4932 Saccharomyces cerevisiae — Reference budding-yeast system in which Pol3, Pol31 and Pol32 form a 1:1:1 DNA polymerase delta complex. [PMID:11568188]

Functions

DNA replication GO:0006260 — The delta DNA polymerase complex participates in eukaryotic chromosomal DNA replication.
- GO:0043625 GO:0043625 defines the complex as functioning in DNA replication.
- GO:0006260 GO:0006260 is the Gene Ontology biological-process term for DNA replication.
- PMID:9677406 Burgers and Gerik reconstituted Saccharomyces cerevisiae Pol delta and compared PCNA- and RFC-dependent DNA synthesis by two- and three-subunit forms.

Mechanism graphs

DNA polymerase delta supports DNA replication (FUNCTION)

In Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Pol3, Pol31, and Pol32 form the delta DNA polymerase complex that supports DNA replication.

Subject	Predicate	Object	Evidence
Pol3 catalytic subunit	contributes to	delta DNA polymerase complex	`GO:0043625` GO:0043625 defines the delta DNA polymerase complex as a multimeric DNA polymerase enzyme complex and notes a three-subunit Saccharomyces cerevisiae form. `PMID:9677406` Burgers and Gerik cloned and co-overexpressed Saccharomyces cerevisiae POL3, POL31 and POL32 to reconstitute Pol delta. `PMID:11568188` Johansson et al. established that purified Saccharomyces cerevisiae DNA polymerase delta contains Pol3, Pol31 and Pol32 at 1:1:1 stoichiometry.
Pol31 subunit	contributes to	delta DNA polymerase complex	`GO:0043625` GO:0043625 defines the delta DNA polymerase complex as a multimeric DNA polymerase enzyme complex and notes a three-subunit Saccharomyces cerevisiae form. `PMID:9677406` Burgers and Gerik cloned and co-overexpressed Saccharomyces cerevisiae POL3, POL31 and POL32 to reconstitute Pol delta. `PMID:11568188` Johansson et al. established that purified Saccharomyces cerevisiae DNA polymerase delta contains Pol3, Pol31 and Pol32 at 1:1:1 stoichiometry.
Pol32 subunit	contributes to	delta DNA polymerase complex	`GO:0043625` GO:0043625 defines the delta DNA polymerase complex as a multimeric DNA polymerase enzyme complex and notes a three-subunit Saccharomyces cerevisiae form. `PMID:9677406` Burgers and Gerik cloned and co-overexpressed Saccharomyces cerevisiae POL3, POL31 and POL32 to reconstitute Pol delta. `PMID:11568188` Johansson et al. established that purified Saccharomyces cerevisiae DNA polymerase delta contains Pol3, Pol31 and Pol32 at 1:1:1 stoichiometry.
delta DNA polymerase complex	supports	DNA replication	`GO:0043625` GO:0043625 defines the complex as functioning in DNA replication. `GO:0006260` GO:0006260 defines DNA replication.

Discussions

CURATION_TODO (OPEN): Resolve exact source-neutral family groundings for the Pol3, Pol31, and Pol32 subunit classes. GO:0043625 exactly identifies the delta DNA polymerase complex and primary Saccharomyces evidence directly supports the Pol3, Pol31 and Pol32 subunits, but exact source-neutral InterPro, Pfam, NCBIfam or UniProtKB family CURIEs were not curated in this pass.
INTERPRETATION (RESOLVED): Represent Saccharomyces cerevisiae DNA polymerase delta as a monomeric Pol3/Pol31/Pol32 heterotrimer rather than a dimer of heterotrimers. The GO definition for GO:0043625 still says that the active Saccharomyces enzyme is a dimer of heterotrimers. Johansson et al. revisited that earlier gel-filtration model with gel filtration, glycerol-gradient sedimentation, analytical equilibrium centrifugation, and two-hybrid analyses and concluded that the Pol3/Pol31/Pol32 assembly is monomeric.

Evidence

GO:0043625 Gene Ontology cellular-component term for the delta DNA polymerase complex.
GO:0042575 Gene Ontology cellular-component parent term for DNA polymerase complexes.
GO:0140513 Gene Ontology cellular-component parent term for nuclear protein-containing complexes.
GO:0043601 — nuclear replisome Gene Ontology cellular-component term for the nuclear replisome; GO:0043625 is part of this term.
GO:0006260 Gene Ontology biological-process term for DNA replication.
PMID:9677405 PubMed record for Gerik et al. 1998, the JBC paper characterizing the two small Saccharomyces cerevisiae DNA polymerase delta subunits.
PMID:9677406 PubMed record for Burgers and Gerik 1998, the JBC paper that reconstituted Saccharomyces cerevisiae DNA polymerase delta from POL3, POL31 and POL32.
PMID:11568188 PubMed record for Johansson et al. 2001, the JBC paper establishing the monomeric 1:1:1 Saccharomyces cerevisiae DNA polymerase delta assembly.

Curation history

2026-09-27T19:03:43Z codex · CREATED_RECORD — Scaffolded by scripts/new_record.py
2026-09-27T19:05:20Z codex · EXPANDED_RECORD — Added GO synonymy, alternate ID, DNA-polymerase-complex and nuclear-complex parentage, nuclear-replisome parthood, three reviewed-label-only Saccharomyces Pol delta constituent rows, Eukaryota scope, a budding-yeast canonical example, DNA-replication function evidence, GO/PubMed evidence, a nonmechanistic function graph, a subunit-grounding TODO, and a resolved discussion for using the corrected monomeric Pol delta assembly.
2026-09-27T19:12:06Z codex · REMOVED_OBSOLETE_XREF — Removed the obsolete GO alternate ID from xrefs and evidence after the repository CURIE liveness gate rejected it.
2026-09-27T19:12:40Z codex · NORMALIZED_CURATION_HISTORY — Removed an obsolete GO alternate ID from the previous curation-history note.

Source: data/structures/other/delta_dna_polymerase_complex.yaml