Nucleoside diphosphate kinase (NDK), a ubiquitous enzyme, catalyses reversible transfer of the γ phosphate from nucleoside triphosphates to nucleoside diphosphates and functions to maintain the pools of ribonucleotides and deoxyribonucleotides in the cell. As even a minor imbalance in the nucleotide pools can be mutagenic, NDK plays an antimutator role in maintaining genome integrity. However, the mechanism of the antimutator roles of NDK is not completely understood. In addition, NDKs play important roles in the host–pathogen interactions, metastasis, gene regulation, and various cellular metabolic processes. To add to these diverse roles of NDK in cells, a recent study now reveals that NDK may even confer mutator phenotypes to the cell by acting on the damaged deoxyribonucleoside diphosphates that may be formed during the oxidative stress. In this review, we discuss the roles of NDK in homeostasis of the nucleotide pools and genome integrity, and its possible implications in conferring growth/survival fitness to the organisms in the changing environmental niches.

核苷二磷酸激酶（NDK）是一种普遍存在的酶，催化γ磷酸从核苷三磷酸到核苷二磷酸的可逆转移，并起到维持细胞中核糖核苷酸和脱氧核糖核苷酸库的作用。由于核苷酸库中即使有很小的失衡也可能是诱变的，NDK在维持基因组完整性方面起着抗突变剂的作用。但是，NDK的抗突变剂作用机理尚不完全清楚。另外，NDK在宿主-病原体相互作用，转移，​​基因调控和各种细胞代谢过程中也起着重要作用。为了增加NDK在细胞中的各种作用，最近的一项研究表明，NDK可能通过作用于在氧化应激过程中形成的受损的脱氧核糖核苷二磷酸，甚至赋予细胞突变型表型。