DNA
Deoxyribonucleic acid — the molecule that stores genetic instructions for all known life. Made of four chemical bases (A, T, G, C) arranged in a double helix.
DNA, or deoxyribonucleic acid, is the molecule that carries the genetic instructions used in the growth, development, function, and reproduction of all known living organisms. It consists of two long strands forming a double helix, with each strand made up of nucleotides containing one of four bases: adenine (A), thymine (T), guanine (G), or cytosine (C).
The order of these bases — the genetic sequence — encodes information used to build proteins, control cell behaviour, and pass traits from parent to offspring. The human genome contains roughly 3 billion base pairs across 23 chromosomes.
Modern technologies including CRISPR gene editing, mRNA vaccines, and DNA sequencing all rely on understanding and manipulating DNA at the molecular level.