A DNA molecule is called deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) . It is a molecule that carries genetic information for the development and functioning of an organism. DNA is made of two linked strands that wind around each other to resemble a twisted ladder, a shape known as a double helix. Each strand has a backbone made of alternating sugar (deoxyribose) and phosphate groups, and attached to each sugar is one of four bases: adenine (A), cytosine (C), guanine (G), or thymine (T) . The sequence of the bases along DNA’s backbone encodes biological information, such as the instructions for making a protein or RNA molecule. DNA is the hereditary material in humans and almost all other organisms, and nearly every cell in a person’s body has the same DNA.