Practice question

Partial digestion deliberately limits reaction so that not every recognition sequence is cleaved in each molecule within the population. Molecules experience progressive, stepwise hydrolysis where cleavage occurs sequentially along the chain. Some molecules are cut at the first site only, others at first and second, etc., creating diverse length intermediates. Uniform cleavage would indicate complete digestion, while denaturation or absence of cleavage would give uncut band. The stepwise nature generates the characteristic ladder of labeled fragments essential for ordering restriction sites along DNA.