deoxyribonucleic acid

Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) is the molecule that carries the genetic instructions necessary for the development, functioning, and reproduction of all living organisms and many viruses. It is composed of two long strands forming a double helix, made up of building blocks called nucleotides. These nucleotides consist of a sugar, a phosphate group, and a nitrogenous base. The sequence of bases encodes the information required to produce proteins, which perform most of the functions within a cell. DNA is essentially the blueprint that determines an organism's inherited traits and facilitates the transmission of genetic information from one generation to the next.