Metabolism of Nucleic Acids (Macromolecular DNA and RNA)

Since it is manifestly impossible to cover the entire field of nucleic acid metabolism in one article, I have restricted this review to recent work on enzymes which have to do with macromolecular nucleic acids. Sections are included on the synthetic enzymes DNA polymerase and RNA polymerase and on enzymes which alter the nucleic acids in their macromolecular state, namely, the DNA and RNA methylases. The concluding section deals with degradative enzymes, chiefly RNase, DNase, and polynucleotide phosphoryl­ ase, but in a much more cursory manner. The review is based on an exten­ sive, but certainly not complete, coverage of the recent literature. References 1 through 10 are reviews, books, special collections of articles, and critical papers which deal with various aspects of the subject matter of this review.