About thirty bacterial strains of actinomycete isolated from the soil were examined for the presence of restriction endonuclease activity. Streptomyces diastatochromogenes, which was identified previously, was found to contain restriction endonuclease activity. The purification of this enzyme, SdiI, was carried out via streptomycin sulfate precipitation and ammonium sulfate fractionation followed by hydroxylapatite column chromatography. Sephacryl S-200 HR column chromatography and second hydroxylapatite column chromatography. SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis of the active protein (purified from various column chromatography) resulted in 35,000 Da protein.