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restriction enzymes

Cultural  
  1. Chemicals used in the lab to cut up DNA at specific sites so that it may be sequenced. They function in nature as a form of bacterial self-protection that can cut up foreign DNA. The use of restriction enzymes is crucial in DNA fingerprinting.


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Standard methods for assembling long DNA molecules typically use restriction enzymes to make cuts and T4 DNA ligase to connect the resulting fragments.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 19, 2026

Instead of reproducing DNA replication in a test tube and making different fragment lengths with special nucleotides, a DNA sample is chopped into pieces with special molecular scissors called restriction enzymes.

From Slate ● Feb. 5, 2019

Once DNA has been cut by restriction enzymes, scientists can use gel electrophoresis to separate the fragments.

From Textbooks ● Jan. 1, 2018

But BioBricks-type methods are limited by their use of restriction enzymes.

From Nature ● May 18, 2011

Using so-called restriction enzymes, they "cut" the DNA into segments.

From Time Magazine Archive

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