DNA polymerase ζ (Pol ζ) is a eukaryotic B-family DNA polymerase that specializes in translesion synthesis and is essential for normal embryogenesis. At a minimum, Pol ζ consists of a catalytic subunit Rev3 and an accessory subunit Rev7. Mammalian Rev3 contains >3,000 residues and is twice as large as the yeast homolog. To date, no vertebrate Pol ζ has been purified for biochemical characterization. Here we report purification of a series of human Rev3 deletion constructs expressed in HEK293 cells and identification of a minimally catalytically active human Pol ζ variant. With a tagged form of an active Pol ζ variant, we isolated two additional accessory subunits of human Pol ζ, PolD2 and PolD3. The purified foursubunit Pol ζ4 (Rev3-Rev7-PolD2-PolD3) is much more efficient and more processive at bypassing a 1,2-intrastrand d(GpG)-cisplatin cross-link than the two-subunit Pol ζ2 (Rev3-Rev7). We show that complete bypass of cisplatin lesions requires Pol η to insert dCTP opposite the 3′ guanine and Pol ζ4 to extend the primers., composed of the catalytic Rev3 and accessary Rev7 subunits, is an error-prone DNA translesion polymerase that causes both spontaneous and DNA damage-induced mutagenesis (1, 2). More than two-thirds of the 1,504 residues in yeast Rev3 share sequence homology with all B-family DNA polymerases, including Pols α, δ, and e, which are responsible for the bulk of high-fidelity genomic replication in eukaryotes (3). Unlike the typical B-family polymerases, Pol ζ lacks an intrinsic 3′-5′ exonuclease activity and thus has no proofreading function (2). Human homologs of REV3 (REV3L) and REV7 (MAD2L2; hereafter referred to as REV7) genes were identified shortly after yeast Pol ζ was characterized. Human Rev3 contains 3,130 residues and is twice as large as the yeast counterpart (4). Human and yeast Rev7 are homologous (5) and bear sequence similarity to the mitotic checkpoint proteins Mad2 (6). Unlike Saccharomyces cerevisiae REV3 and REV7 genes, which are nonessential and whose knockout leads only to a decreased rate of damage-induced mutagenesis (7, 8), Rev3l knockout in mice is embryonic-lethal (9), and mouse Rev3l −/− embryonic stem cells are not viable (10, 11). Human and mouse cell cultures obtained from conditional Rev3l knockout show genome instability and growth defects without an external challenge of DNA damage (12)(13)(14). DNA pol ζ is apparently essential for normal cell proliferation and embryogenesis in mammals.Translesion synthesis (TLS) and DNA-damage-induced mutagenesis are the best-characterized functions of Pol ζ. Absence of the yeast REV3 gene leads to sensitivity to UV light and intrastrand and interstrand cross-linking agents (2, 15). DNA Pol ζ has been shown to induce multiple base substitutions as well as more complex mutations in yeast (7,16,17) and may contribute to hypermutation in Ig genes in mammals (18,19). The TLS function of DNA Pol ζ has been implicated in its role of mediating resistance to platinum-based chemotherapies (20)(21)(22). Owing to the conservation of B-f...