Seroatlas · Human Serome Atlas

POLK

DNA polymerase kappa

Also known as: DINB1, DINP, POLK_HUMAN, POLQ

Cross-references: UniProt · Ensembl · Human Protein Atlas · GeneCards · NCBI Gene

Protein identityUniProt · HPA

UniProt accession
Q9UBT6
Gene
POLK
Ensembl
ENSG00000122008
Chromosome
5
Canonical length
870 aa
Protein class
Enzymes, Metabolic proteins, Plasma proteins, Predicted intracellular proteins
Subcellular location
Nucleoplasm

OverviewNCBI Gene

This gene encodes a member of the DNA polymerase type-Y family of proteins. The encoded protein is a specialized DNA polymerase that catalyzes translesion DNA synthesis, which allows DNA replication in the presence of DNA lesions. Human cell lines lacking a functional copy of this gene exhibit impaired genome integrity and enhanced susceptibility to oxidative damage. Mutations in this gene that impair enzyme activity may be associated with prostate cancer in human patients. [provided by RefSeq, Sep 2016]

Canonical amino-acid sequenceUniProt

870 residues, UniProt reviewed canonical sequence.

>Q9UBT6|POLK
     1  MDSTKEKCDS YKDDLLLRMG LNDNKAGMEG LDKEKINKII MEATKGSRFY GNELKKEKQV
    61  NQRIENMMQQ KAQITSQQLR KAQLQVDRFA MELEQSRNLS NTIVHIDMDA FYAAVEMRDN
   121  PELKDKPIAV GSMSMLSTSN YHARRFGVRA AMPGFIAKRL CPQLIIVPPN FDKYRAVSKE
   181  VKEILADYDP NFMAMSLDEA YLNITKHLEE RQNWPEDKRR YFIKMGSSVE NDNPGKEVNK
   241  LSEHERSISP LLFEESPSDV QPPGDPFQVN FEEQNNPQIL QNSVVFGTSA QEVVKEIRFR
   301  IEQKTTLTAS AGIAPNTMLA KVCSDKNKPN GQYQILPNRQ AVMDFIKDLP IRKVSGIGKV
   361  TEKMLKALGI ITCTELYQQR ALLSLLFSET SWHYFLHISL GLGSTHLTRD GERKSMSVER
   421  TFSEINKAEE QYSLCQELCS ELAQDLQKER LKGRTVTIKL KNVNFEVKTR ASTVSSVVST
   481  AEEIFAIAKE LLKTEIDADF PHPLRLRLMG VRISSFPNEE DRKHQQRSII GFLQAGNQAL
   541  SATECTLEKT DKDKFVKPLE MSHKKSFFDK KRSERKWSHQ DTFKCEAVNK QSFQTSQPFQ
   601  VLKKKMNENL EISENSDDCQ ILTCPVCFRA QGCISLEALN KHVDECLDGP SISENFKMFS
   661  CSHVSATKVN KKENVPASSL CEKQDYEAHP KIKEISSVDC IALVDTIDNS SKAESIDALS
   721  NKHSKEECSS LPSKSFNIEH CHQNSSSTVS LENEDVGSFR QEYRQPYLCE VKTGQALVCP
   781  VCNVEQKTSD LTLFNVHVDV CLNKSFIQEL RKDKFNPVNQ PKESSRSTGS SSGVQKAVTR
   841  TKRPGLMTKY STSKKIKPNN PKHTLDIFFK

LocalizationUniProt · AlphaFold · HPA

Whether an antibody against POLK can act on the native protein depends on physical access: surface and secreted proteins are reachable by circulating antibodies, intracellular proteins usually are not.

Antibody reachability
Intracellular
Secreted
No
Transmembrane segments
0
Mean surface accessibility (rSASA)
0.44
Highest tissue expression
4.9 nTPM

Expression across tissuesHPA

Tissue

  • retina: 4.9 nTPM
  • ovary: 4.5 nTPM
  • thyroid gland: 4.4 nTPM
  • blood vessel: 4.3 nTPM
  • cervix: 4.3 nTPM
  • endometrium: 4.2 nTPM

Single-cell type

  • early spermatids: 267 nCPM
  • late primary spermatocytes: 218 nCPM
  • microglia: 192 nCPM
  • adrenal medulla cells: 192 nCPM
  • oligodendrocytes: 186 nCPM
  • pituicytes/fscs: 177 nCPM

Immune cell

  • non-classical monocyte: 12 nTPM
  • basophil: 6.2 nTPM
  • intermediate monocyte: 6.2 nTPM
  • classical monocyte: 5.7 nTPM
  • plasmacytoid DC: 5.7 nTPM
  • neutrophil: 5.4 nTPM

Brain region

  • white matter: 37 nTPM
  • cerebellum: 30 nTPM
  • medulla oblongata: 28 nTPM
  • pons: 27 nTPM
  • cerebral cortex: 26 nTPM
  • hypothalamus: 26 nTPM

DiseaseUniProt · ClinVar · IEDB · PubMed

Four sources answering four different questions about POLK.

Disease | GeneticClinVar

19 pathogenic / likely-pathogenic of 132 ClinVar records.

Conditions with pathogenic or likely-pathogenic variants.

Genetic constraint and essentialitygnomAD · DepMap

Does the body need this protein intact? Low LOEUF or a strong DepMap dependency means loss or blockade of the protein is likely to be felt.

gnomAD LOEUF (loss-of-function intolerance)
0.87
gnomAD pLI
0
gnomAD missense Z
0.29
DepMap mean gene effect
0.05
DepMap dependency class
selective

Cancer expressionTCGA

Across TCGA tumor cohorts, this protein is over-expressed in roughly 3% of surveyed tumor types (aggregate summary; per-cohort expression, alteration, and survival load in the interactive view).

OntologyGO

Biological processes

Molecular functions

Cellular components

Protein domainsUniProt · Pfam · InterPro

KeywordsUniProt

InteractionsUniProt · HPA

Protein binding partners of POLK in the human serome: UniProt-annotated complex subunits plus reported interactors. Each links to its own Seroatlas record.

Antibody and autoantibody relevanceSeroatlas analysis

Seroatlas reads POLK as an antibody target. Whether an autoantibody or antibody against POLK could matter depends on whether native POLK is physically reachable, whether the body needs it intact, and whether it acts in a disease-relevant tissue.

POLK is annotated as predominantly intracellular. Intracellular proteins are common autoantibody markers, becoming visible to the immune system after cell injury or altered processing, but are usually markers of disease rather than direct drivers.

Annotation status

The present source text does not explicitly label POLK as an autoantigen. Seroatlas presents hypothesis context only and does not manufacture a known-serology claim.

Canonical record: https://seroatlas.com/gene/POLK. Study-independent annotations aggregated from UniProt, Human Protein Atlas, PubMed, IEDB, Pfam, InterPro, Gene Ontology, AlphaFold, gnomAD, DepMap, ClinVar, TCGA. Catalog release seroatlas-reviewed-human-uniprot-20260313.

Seroatlas is the reference for exploring autoantibody and antibody serology at the human-protein level: the autoreactome and human serome, multiplex serology (HuProt, HuScan, VirScan, PhIP-Seq).

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