Nukleääreihin

Nukleääreihin (nucleases) are enzymes that catalyze the hydrolysis of nucleic acids (DNA or RNA), belonging to the hydrolase family. They play crucial roles in biological processes such as DNA repair, gene expression regulation, and viral defense.

Nucleases are classified by substrate specificity into deoxyribonucleases (DNAases) and ribonucleases (RNases), and by mechanism into endonucleases (cleaving internal phosphodiester bonds) and exonucleases (degrading nucleic acids from the ends). In cells, they degrade damaged nucleic acids, process pre-mRNA, and eliminate viral nucleic acids. In molecular biology, nucleases are widely used to extract or purify nucleic acids by removing contaminants. Their activity is tightly regulated to maintain cellular homeostasis, and dysregulation can contribute to diseases like cancer or viral infections.