noun

• An enzyme that cleaves the chains of nucleotides in nucleic acids into smaller units.

  ‘These DNA-binding proteins include polymerases, helicases, nucleases, isomerases, ligases, histones, and others.’

  More example sentences

  • ‘Such hydrolytic enzymes as cystein proteinases, serine proteinases, and nucleases are highly induced during xylogenesis.’
  • ‘Plants then synthesize antimicrobial substances, including the protein chitinase, which degrades the cell walls of fungi, and enzymes called nucleases, which break apart the ribonucleic acid of viruses.’
  • ‘When both sets of fingers are bound, the cleavage domain can dimerize to form an active nuclease and cleave the DNA at the sites indicated by carats.’
  • ‘In Belgium, as late as 1945, Gratia's group observed that nucleases (RNase and DNase) had no effect on four tested bacteriophages of various origins.’