<P> Deoxyribonucleic acid (/ diˈɒksiˌraɪboʊnjʊˌkliːɪk, - ˌkleɪɪk / (listen); DNA) is a molecule that carries the genetic instructions used in the growth, development, functioning and reproduction of all known living organisms and many viruses . DNA and ribonucleic acid (RNA) are nucleic acids; alongside proteins, lipids and complex carbohydrates (polysaccharides), they are one of the four major types of macromolecules that are essential for all known forms of life . Most DNA molecules consist of two biopolymer strands coiled around each other to form a double helix . </P> <P> The two DNA strands are called polynucleotides since they are composed of simpler monomer units called nucleotides . Each nucleotide is composed of one of four nitrogen - containing nucleobases--cytosine (C), guanine (G), adenine (A) or thymine (T)--a sugar called deoxyribose and a phosphate group . The nucleotides are joined to one another in a chain by covalent bonds between the sugar of one nucleotide and the phosphate of the next, resulting in an alternating sugar - phosphate backbone . The nitrogenous bases of the two separate polynucleotide strands are bound together, according to base pairing rules (A with T and C with G), with hydrogen bonds to make double - stranded DNA . The total amount of related DNA base pairs on Earth is estimated at 5.0 x 10 and weighs 50 billion tonnes . In comparison, the total mass of the biosphere has been estimated to be as much as 4 trillion tons of carbon (TtC). </P> <P> DNA stores biological information . The DNA backbone is resistant to cleavage, and both strands of the double - stranded structure store the same biological information . This information is replicated as and when the two strands separate . A large part of DNA (more than 98% for humans) is non-coding, meaning that these sections do not serve as patterns for protein sequences . </P> <P> The two strands of DNA run in opposite directions to each other and are thus antiparallel . Attached to each sugar is one of four types of nucleobases (informally, bases). It is the sequence of these four nucleobases along the backbone that encodes biological information . RNA strands are created using DNA strands as a template in a process called transcription . Under the genetic code, these RNA strands are translated to specify the sequence of amino acids within proteins in a process called translation . </P>

Where is the information actually held within a dna molecule
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