Kinetics of multistate DNA polymerases

In the present paper, we apply the iterative mathematical method previously developed for the kinetics of template-directed multistate copolymerization to the kinetics of DNA replication by polymerases having multiple structural states. In particular, we study a two-state kinetic model for the T7 DNA polymerase. We obtain the mean velocity for the growth of the copy along the template, the error probability of DNA replication by the polymerase, and the local probabilities of base-pair formation along the template sequence. Furthermore, we show that the iterative method is more than a million times faster than usual numerical simulation methods. Results are also obtained in the approximation of homogenization of template heterogeneities.

Pierre Gaspard · 2026