How are nucleic acids broken down?

Answer 1

Nucleic acids are broken down by nuclease enzymes which break the phosphodiester bond between two nucleiotides. There are endo- as well as exo-nucleases.

Deoxyribonuclease (DNase) and ribonuclease (RNase) are exonucleases found in our pancreatic juice. These enzymes break down nucleic acid molecules present in our diet by cutting away nucleiotides from one end.

Endonucleases on the other hand cut a nucleic acid molecule to form smaller fragments. Restriction enzymes are all endonucleases : but these enzymes cut DNA only at palindromic sequences. Specific restriction enzyme always recognizes only one such unique sequence.

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Answer 2

Emma Arvizu

Enzymatic hydrolysis, which releases individual nucleotides by breaking the phosphodiester bonds between nucleotides, is the process by which nucleic acids are broken down.

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Answer from HIX Tutor

When evaluating a one-sided limit, you need to be careful when a quantity is approaching zero since its sign is different depending on which way it is approaching zero from. Let us look at some examples.