Question

A conventional method for naming restriction enzymes is followed. In case of EcoRI, what do the numbers below the name indicate?

• A. 1 - Strain 2 - Genus 3 - Order of isolation 4 - Species
• B. 1 - Genus 2 - Order of isolation 3 - Strain 4 - Species
• C. 1 - Genus 2 - Species 3 - Strain 4 - Order of isolation
• D. 1 - Order of isolation 2 - Species 3 - Strain 4 - Genus

Answer 1

The correct option is C 1 - Genus 2 - Species 3 - Strain 4 - Order of isolation

EcoRI comes from Escherichia coli RYB strain. In EcoRI, ‘E’ comes from the genus 'Escherichia' and ‘co’ comes from the species name ‘coli’.The letter ‘R’ is derived from the name of the strain RYB. Roman numbers following the names indicate the order in which the enzymes were isolated from that strain of bacteria.