Calf-intestinal alkaline phosphatase (CIAP/CIP) is a type of alkaline phosphatase that catalyzes the removal of phosphate groups from the 5' end of DNA strands. This enzyme is frequently used in DNA sub-cloning, as DNA fragments that lack the 5' phosphate groups cannot ligate. This prevents recircularization of linearized vector DNA and improves the yield of vector containing the appropriate insert.