Definition of "endonuclease" [endonuclease]

• Any of a group of enzymes that catalyze the hydrolysis of bonds between nucleic acids in the interior of a DNA or RNA molecule. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Church, “The cleavage site of the restriction endonuclease Ava II,” Nucleic Acids Research 5 1978, 2313–2319."
• "Subsequently, it has been shown that RISC contains at least one member of the argonaute protein family, which is likely to act as an endonuclease and cut the mRNA (nowadays often referred to as the Slicer function)."
• "Double-stranded RNA is cut into short pieces (siRNA) by the endonuclease Dicer."