Erratum to: Cell Biosci (2016) 6:51 DOI 10.1186/s13578-016-0118-2

Upon publication of the original article [1], it was noticed that the Fig. 2 is incorrect. This has now been acknowledged and corrected in this erratum. The correct Fig. 2 has been shown below.

Fig. 2
figure 2

Comparison of the initiation of phosphoryltransfer in two- versus three-metal-ion catalysis. a In three-metal-ion catalysis, the C-site metal ion initiates the reaction by breaking the existing phosphodiester bond in dNTP and thus drives the phosphoryltransfer reaction. A well-aligned native 3′-OH is required for capture of the C-site metal ion and its deprotonation is a result of the reaction. b In two-metal-ion catalysis, the reaction starts by de-protonation of the 3′-OH (nucleophile), which activates nucleophilic attack and leads to breakage of the existing phosphodiester bond in dNTP