The correct option is 1: Nuclease Nucleases are a class of enzymes fundamentally responsible for manipulating the structure of nucleic acids—both DNA and RNA—by hydrolyzing, or breaking, the phosphodiester bonds that link individual nucleotides together to form the long polymer chain. They are essentially specialized phosphodiesterases that act specifically on the sugar-phosphate backbone of the genetic material. The term "nuclease" is derived from "nucleic acid" and the suffix "-ase," indicating…Read More