Recombinant deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) is DNA that has been created artificially. DNA from two or more sources is incorporated into a single recombinant molecule. The technologies used to accomplish this are collectively referred to as recombinant DNA technology.

Recombinant DNA technology relies upon restriction endonucleases—enzymes that recognize certain sequences within the DNA, and cut the DNA at the particular site. Many restriction endonucleases exist that recognize many sequences of DNA bases. Some of the enzymes create a staggered cut, where one strand of DNA is longer than the complimentary strand. Because of the staggered cuts, treatment of different DNA with the restriction enzymes will generate regions, which compliment one another. These regions will anneal together. These behaviors allow foreign DNA to be inserted into target DNA. This is the basis of recombinant DNA technology.

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