DNA restriction endonuclease are important class of restriction exonucleases, class II, which cut double-stranded DNA molecules only at sites characterized by a specific nucleotide sequence. Restriction enzymes are isolated from bacterial cells and are tools for molecular biologists. Several hundred restriction enzymes are now known, each with a specific sequence requirement dictating where it will cut DNA. Some, such as

Hind III, make staggered cuts leaving ‘sticky ends’, three nucleotides long protruding on one strand from each severed terminus; others make clean cuts in both strands at the same place and thus generate ‘blunt ends’. Digesting DNA with a restriction enzyme therefore creates a characteristic set of fragments, which can be isolated by electrophoresis and subsequently analysed.