Question

Restriction enzymes are considered as a type of endonuclease. Why?

Answer 1

An endonuclease is an enzyme that cleaves a DNA fragment by separating the nucleotides within the fragment (by breaking the phosphodiester bonds) and not the end ones. The restriction enzyme also cleaves the DNA at specific sites called restriction sites (recognition sites) located within the molecule. Hence, restriction enzymes are also considered a type of endonuclease.