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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Example Sentences

Virtually, they may learn about the coarse adjustment knob on the microscope, changing from low power to high power on a microscope or what restriction enzymes are, so when they come to class, they have a heads up on those things, Sims said.

From Washington Times

Developed by synthetic biologist Sylvestre Marillonnet and his colleagues at Icon Genetics in Halle, Germany, Golden Gate uses specialized proteins known as type IIS restriction enzymes to make targeted cuts in DNA strands4.

From Nature

Restriction enzymes, the standard tool for cutting DNA, can snip chunks of genetic material and join the ends to form small circular segments that can be moved out of one cell and into another.

From Science Magazine

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

First, they cut the plasmid using restriction enzymes.

From Salon