Luis Blanco - Publications#

10 most significant publications in career:

1. Blanco L. and Salas M. (1984). Characterization and purification of a phage ø29 coded DNA polymerase required for the initiation of replication. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 81, 5325-5329.

Discovery and characterization of Phi29 DNA polymerase, as the only DNA polymerase involved in both the initiation (protein-primed) and elongation steps of Phi29 DNA replication. This DNA polymerase is a worldwide used tool for the isothermal amplification of DNA due to its exceptional processivity, fidelity and strand-displacement capacity at room temperatute. Total citation:102; cites in the last 5 years: 9

2. Bernad A., Zaballos A., Salas M. and Blanco L. (1987) Structural and functional relationships between prokaryotic and eukaryotic DNA polymerases. The EMBO Journal 6, 4219-4225.

Identification of conserved amino acid segments defining the polymerization active site of Pol alpha-like DNA polymerases, later renamed as family B DNA polymerases. Strikingly, this family contains members both from prokaryotes, eukaryotes, and phages as Phi29 and T4, and served to identify putatative DNA polymerases from mitochondrial linear plasmids.Total citation: 107; cites in the last 5 years: 6

3. Bernad A., Blanco L., Lazaro J.M., Martin G. and Salas M. (1989) A conserved 3'----5' exonuclease active site in prokaryotic and eukaryotic DNA polymerases. Cell, 59, 219-228.

Discovery that all proofreading DNA polymerases have an evolutionarily conserved 3´-5´exonuclease active site, caracterized by three Exo (I, II and III) amino acid segments which contain the catalytic carboxylates involved in metal binding. This finding was instrumental for the obtention of Exo-deficient versions of DNA polymerases, ie. Sequenase version 2.0, which improved the methodology of DNA sequencing, and also served to study the contribution of individual DNA polymerases to DNA replication fidelity and cancer. Total citation: 343; cites in the last 5 years: 31

4. Dominguez O., Ruiz J.F., Lain de Lera T., Garcia-Diaz M., Gonzalez M.A., Kirchhoff T., Martinez A.C., Bernad A. and Blanco L. (2000) DNA polymerase mu (Pol mu), homologous to TdT, could act as a DNA mutator in eukaryotic cells. The EMBO Journal, 19, 1731-1742.

Discovery and characterization of human DNA polymerase mu (Pol µ), a X-family DNA polymerase involved in sealing programmed dsDNA breaks during VDJ recombination, and in non-homologous end joining (NHEJ) of sporadic dsDNA breaks. Total citation: 242; cites in the last 5 years: 23

5. García-Díaz M., Bebenek K., Sabariegos R., Domínguez O., Rodríguez J., Kirchhoff T., García-Palomero E., Picher A.J., Juárez R., Ruiz J.F., Kunkel T.A. and Blanco L. (2002) DNA Polymerase Lambda, a Novel DNA Repair Enzyme in Human Cells. Journal of Biological Chemistry 277 , 13184-13191.

Discovery and characterization of human DNA polymerase lambda (Pol λ), a X-family DNA polymerase involved in meiosis, base excision repair (BER) and non-homologous end joining (NHEJ) of dsDNA breaks in human cells. Total citation: 172; cites in the last 5 years: 18

6. Brissett N.C., Pitcher R.S., Juarez R., Picher A.J., Green A.J., Dafforn T.R., Fox G.C., Blanco L.* and Doherty A.J.* (2007) Structure of a NHEJ polymerase-mediated DNA synaptic complex. Science (New York, N.Y, 318, 456-459. (* co-senior authorship).

First evidence of the synapsis step mediated by two units of a bacterial DNA polymerase involved in NHEJ of double strand DNA breaks. Total citation: 71; cites in the last 5 years: 13

7. Brissett N.C., Martin M.J., Pitcher R.S., Bianchi J., Juarez R., Green A.J., Fox G.C., Blanco L*. and Doherty* A.J. (2011) Structure of a preternary complex involving a prokaryotic NHEJ DNA polymerase. Molecular Cell, 41, 221-231. (* co-senior authorship).

Structural and functional studies of the polymerase domain of LigD involved in the repair of double-strand breaks via non-homologous end joining (NHEJ) in bacteria. First description of an intermediate pre-ternary complex formed by the enzyme, ssDNA template and incoming ribonucleotide. Total citation: 40 ; cites in the last 5 years: 16

8. Garcia-Gomez S., Reyes A., Martinez-Jimenez M.I., Chocrón E.S., Mouron S., Terrados G., Powell C., Salido., E, Mendez J., Holt I.J. and Blanco L. (2013). PrimPol, an Archaic Primase/Polymerase Operating in Human Cells. Molecular Cell 52, 541-553.

Discovery and characterization of PrimPol as a second primase in human cells, and its function in the maintenance of mitocondrial DNA replication. Total citation: 283; cites in the last 5 years: 149

9. Mouron S., Rodriguez-Acebes S., Martinez-Jimenez M.I., Garcia-Gomez S., Chocrón E.S., Blanco L.* and Mendez J.* (2013). Repriming of DNA synthesis at stalled replication forks by human PrimPol. Nature Structural & Molecular Biology 20, 1383-1389. (* co-senior authorship)

First demonstration that human PrimPol is involved in reinitiating stalled replication forks, via repriming, during nuclear DNA repication. These studies have been crucial for considering PrimPol as a relevant target in cancer therapies, specially in combination with replication stress-inducing agents. Total citation: 210; cites in the last 5 years: 116

10. Picher A.J., Wafzig O., Krüger C., García-Gómez S., Martínez-Jiménez M.I., Díaz-Talavera A., Blanco L.* and Schneider A.* (2016) TruePrime, a novel method for whole genome amplification from single cells based on TthPrimPol. Nature Commun. 7:13296 | DOI: 10.1038/ncomms13296. (* co-senior authorship).

Description of a novel isothermal primer-less amplification method based on the combination of PrimPol with Phi29 DNA polymerase. This method is patented and commercialized by 4basebio for the production of GMP-synthetic DNA for vaccines and gene therapy. Total citation: 58; cites in the last 5 years: 45