experimental feature dna overhang sticky ends MI:0853 cohessive ends An overhang is a stretch of unpaired nucleotides in the end of a DNA molecule. These unpaired nucleotides can be in either strand, creating either 3' or 5' overhangs. Longer overhangs are called cohessive ends or sticky ends. They are most often created by restriction endonucleases when they cut DNA. Very often they cut the two DNA strands four base pairs from each other, creating a four-base 3' overhang in the other molecule and a complementary 5' overhang in the other. These ends are called cohessive since they are easily joined back together by a ligase PSI-MI