Do eukaryotic cells have restriction endonucleases ? Justify your answer .

Explanation

Most restriction endonucleases are prokaryotic in origin. However, there are several found in eukaryotic cells, including our own. In eukaryotes they are not referred to as restriction enzymes, just endonucleases. An example of an endonuclease in eukaryotes is Apn 1, isolated from yeast .This enzyme helps toprevent DNA damage from environmental agents . Another common enzyme family called the toposisomerases prevent the supercoiling of DNA at replication forks, by cutting the back bone, relieving the tension and pasting the ends together again -hence the endonuclease activity .In prokaryotes, restriction enzymes actually restrict enzymes actually restrict theproliferation of viruses by cleaving their nucleic acids at specific base -pair sequences. These enzymes cut DNA at the exact same sequence no matter which organism the DNA belongs to - that . s why they.re such powerful tools in genetic engineering . Eukaryotic endonucleases may not all help in restricting invading nucleic acids and in fact perform many distinct "jobs" .That is probably why they are never referred to as restriction enzymes .