Recombinant DPO4-type DNA polymerase variants with amino acid substitutions that confer modified properties upon the polymerase for improved single molecule sequencing applications are provided. Such properties may include enhanced binding and accurate incorporation of bulky nucleotide analog substrates into daughter strands and the like. Also provided are compositions comprising such DPO4 variants and nucleotide analogs, as well as nucleic acids which encode the polymerases with the aforementioned phenotypes.