Human DNA polymerase (Pol ) differs from other DNA polymerases in that it exhibits a marked template specificity, being more efficient and accurate opposite template purines than opposite pyrimidines. The crystal structures of Pol with template A and incoming dTTP and with template G and incoming dCTP have revealed that in the Pol active site, the templating purine adopts a syn conformation and forms a Hoogsteen base pair with the incoming pyrimidine which remains in the anti conformation. By using 2-aminopurine and purine as the templating residues, which retain the normal N7 position but lack the N 6 of an A or the O 6 of a G, here we provide evidence that whereas hydrogen bonding at N 6 is dispensable for the proficient incorporation of a T opposite template A, hydrogen bonding at O 6 is a prerequisite for C incorporation opposite template G. To further analyze the contributions of O 6 and N7 hydrogen bonding to DNA synthesis by Pol , we have examined its proficiency for replicating through the 6 O-methyl guanine and 8-oxoguanine lesions, which affect the O 6 and N7 positions of template G, respectively. We conclude from these studies that for proficient T incorporation opposite template A, only the N7 hydrogen bonding is required, but for proficient C incorporation opposite template G, hydrogen bonding at both the N7 and O 6 is an imperative. The dispensability of N 6 hydrogen bonding for proficient T incorporation opposite template A has important biological implications, as that would endow Pol with the ability to replicate through lesions which impair the Watson-Crick hydrogen bonding potential at both the N1 and N 6 positions of templating A.Human DNA polymerase (Pol ), a member of the Y family of polymerases, differs from other DNA polymerases in that it incorporates nucleotides opposite template purines with a much higher efficiency and fidelity than opposite template pyrimidines (4,6,19,21,26). Pol exhibits the highest efficiency and fidelity opposite template A, where it misincorporates nucleotides with frequencies of ϳ10 Ϫ4 to 10 Ϫ5 ; opposite template G, Pol incorporates a C with an efficiency that is 5-to 10-fold reduced compared to a T opposite template A, and a T is misincorporated opposite template G with an efficiency that is only a fewfold-lowered than that for a C. Pol 's efficiency and fidelity are much reduced opposite pyrimidine templates, particularly opposite template T (4, 6, 19, 21, 26).The ternary crystal structures of Pol with template A and incoming dTTP and with template G and incoming dCTP have shown that the purine template adopts a syn conformation in the Pol active site and forms a Hoogsteen base pair with the incoming nucleotide which remains in the anti conformation (14, 16). The binding of the pyrimidine nucleotide induces a conformational change in the template purine from anti to syn in the Pol active site, and that results because the active site can accommodate only the ϳ8.6-Å C 1 Ј-C 1 Ј distance of sugars in a Hoogsteen base pair but not the C 1 Ј-C 1 Ј distance of ϳ1...