DNA is the basis of life

All plants and all animals have DNA

In humans, DNA is organized into 23 pairs of chromosomes

The two strands of DNA are wound around each other to form a shape called a double helix

DNA carries genetic instructions for the development, functioning, growth and reproduction of all known organisms and many viruses

The advent of DNA fingerprinting techniques by Sir Alec Jeffreys in 1984 dramatically transformed forensic science, providing an unprecedented method for identifying individuals

Following the elucidation of the DNA double helix structure by Watson and Crick in 1953, the field of molecular biology experienced explosive growth, as scientists began to unravel the genetic code

By the mid-1940s, experiments, such as those by Avery, MacLeod, and McCarty, had strongly indicated that DNA was the molecule responsible for heredity, a groundbreaking shift from the prevailing belief that proteins held this role