Inheritance

Every cell has the capacity to confer to a following generation the characteristics of its species and an abundance of characteristics that are unique to the individual. The information that makes this possible is stored in deoxyribonucleic acid or DNA. In eukaryotic cells, the DNA resides in the nucleus of the cell. Long strands of DNA along with protein components make up visible structures in the nuclei called chromosomes. The vast amount of hereditary information is stored in functional segments of DNA in the chromosomes called "genes".