DNA

n. Deoxyribonucleic acid, a nucleic acid which forms long chains containing the genetic information of all cellular organisms. Human DNA is composed of about 32,000 genes made up of differing combinations of four bases, adenine, thymine, guanine, and cytosine, whose combinations and spacing serve as templates for creating the different proteins of which the body is composed. It is inherited from each parent in the form of a long strand which entwines with the DNA strand from the other parent to form a double helix.