Given below are two statements.

Statement – I : In E.coli, the enzymes which catalyze the addition of methyl groups to the DNA of bacteria are called methylases.

Statement – II : In E.coli, the enzymes which catalyze the breakdown of phosphodiester bonds in the DNA at specific locations are called restriction endonucleases.

In light of the above statements, choose the correct answer from the options given below.

Both Statement I and Statement II are correct.

Statement I: In genetic engineering, the enzymes that catalyze the addition of methyl groups to the DNA of bacteria are indeed called Methylases. DNA methylation is a common mechanism in bacteria to protect their own DNA from digestion by their own restriction endonucleases. Methylases add a methyl group to specific DNA sequences, known as recognition sites, to prevent restriction endonucleases from cleaving the DNA at those sites.

Statement II: In genetic engineering, the enzymes that catalyze the breakdown of phosphodiester bonds in DNA are called restriction endonucleases. These enzymes recognize specific DNA sequences and cleave the DNA at or near these recognition sites by breaking the phosphodiester bonds in the DNA backbone. This cleavage is a fundamental step in genetic engineering for creating recombinant DNA molecules and manipulating DNA for various purposes.