Definition of "exonuclease" []

• Any of a group of enzymes that catalyze the hydrolysis of single nucleotides from the end of a DNA or RNA chain. (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.

• "Ulmer settled on a method of sequencing single molecules of DNA, using an enzyme called exonuclease to nibble off bases from an unfurled DNA strand like a PacMan video game."
• "The idea was to attach an exonuclease to the lip of the nanopore: the enzyme would snip the end of an incoming strand of DNA like a PacMan, one base at a time.31 Each newly freed base then tumbles into the nanopore for its identity to be revealed by the transient blockage in current."
• "The specs of the box could be anywhere from 40 to 100 million bases of sequence per second per box, or 3 to 5 terabases per day, with up to twenty boxes stacked together.34 Illumina saw enough potential to ink an $18 million deal for the marketing and distribution rights for the exonuclease sequencing technology, but Oxford was also contemplating other applications eventually, with the goal of becoming the leader in diagnostics technology."