AP BIOLOGY

Detailed explanation-1: -The sticky ends, a.k.a. cohesive ends, have unpaired DNA nucleotides on either 5’-or 3’-strand, which are known as overhangs. These overhangs are most often generated by a staggered cut of restriction enzymes.

Detailed explanation-2: -A ‘sticky’ end is produced when the restriction enzyme cuts at one end of the sequence, between two bases on the same strand, then cuts on the opposite end of the complementary strand. This will produce two ends of DNA that will have some nucleotides without any complementary bases.

Detailed explanation-3: -Each enzyme recognizes one or a few target sequences and cuts DNA at or near those sequences. Many restriction enzymes make staggered cuts, producing ends with single-stranded DNA overhangs.

Detailed explanation-4: -These staggered cuts leave single-stranded DNA hanging off the ends of the fragments. The single-stranded portion of DNA is called a “sticky end” because it is available to bind to any sequence that is complementary to it. Sticky ends are useful for recombining DNA.