Differential sensitivity of low molecular weight DNA polymerase to sulfhydryl-blocking reagents

Activity of a 2.5 S mouse myeloma DNA polymerase (termed DNA polymerase II) measured with either poly(rA) or poly(dA) as template did not require sulfhydryl-reducing reagents, but was sensitive to inhibition by p-hydroxymercuribenzoate and the sulfhydryl-alkylating reagent, N-ethylmaleimide; however, the activity was much more sensitive to inhibition by p-hydroxymercuribenzoate than by the sulfhydryl-alkylating reagent. The p-hydroxymercuribenzoate inhibition appeared to involve the mercurial portion of the p-hydroxymercuribenzoate molecule because HgCl2 was an equally effective inhibitor, while p-hydroxybenzoate had little effect upon enzyme activity. The p-hydroxymercuribenzoate inhibition was reversed by an equal concentration of the sulfhydryl-reducing reagent, dithiothreitol.