About restriction endonucleases

Since they are ending with 'ase' they are definitely enzymes. They are the bacterial enzymes that cut/split DNA. First found in the bacterium Escherichia coli, they restricted the replication of bacteriophages. Following are the things you need to know about restriction endomucleases

Nomenclature

They are named according to the following criteria:
a. First letter is derived from the genus name
b. The other two letters are derived from species name
c. Then comes the strain of the organism
d. Finally a roman numeral indicating their order of discovery

Some examples of restriction endonucleases

EcoR1: from Escherichia (E) coli (co) strain Ry13 (R)and first (1) one to be discovered.

What is recognition sequence?

Recognition sequence is the place at which restriction endonuclease cuts the DNA site. Different types of cleavage patterns are obtained at the recognition sequence viz: sticky and blunt ends. Only sticky ends are useful for gene manipulation (recombinant DNA technology)