Enzymes in Molecular Biotechnology

Molecular biotechnology uses a wide variety of enzymes. These can be grouped either to their reaction mechanism (enzyme class) or to the intended use in the manipulation of nucleic acids or to their composition of either only protein, a combination of protein and nucleic acid, or an enzymatic active nucleic acid. In this chapter they will be grouped according to their function into (1) enzymes for the synthesis of polynucleotides, like DNA polymerases, RNA polymerases, and reverse transcriptase. (2) Enzymes cutting nucleic acids, like restriction enzymes, DNases, and RNases, and the new type of CRISPR-CAS9. (3) Existing polynucleotides can be modified by the group of nucleic acid-modifying enzymes that cover, e.g., the ligases, methyltransferases, and phosphatases.