Vipera lebetina venom contains supercoiled plasmid degrading endonucleases.
Vipera lebetina venom fraction with molecular mass of 30–35 kDa degrades RNA strand in RNA/DNA hybrid.
The RNA/DNA-hydrolysing activity is caused by ribonuclease H1-like enzyme.
The partial RNase H1-like enzyme coding DNA sequence has been determined from V. lebetina venom gland cDNA library.
This is the first RNase H1-like enzyme found in snake venom.