What is genetic material?

(N/A) Genetic material is the substance that carries biological information from one generation to the next.
At the time of Mendel,the nature of 'factors' regulating the pattern of inheritance was not clear.
Over the next hundred years,the nature of the putative genetic material was investigated,culminating in the realization that $DNA$ (deoxyribonucleic acid) is the primary genetic material.
Nucleic acids are polymers of nucleotides.
$DNA$ and $RNA$ (ribonucleic acid) are the two types of nucleic acids found in living systems.
$DNA$ acts as the genetic material in most organisms.
$RNA$,although it acts as genetic material in some viruses,mostly functions as a messenger $(mRNA)$.
$RNA$ also has additional roles,functioning as an adapter $(tRNA)$,a structural component $(rRNA)$,and in some cases,as a catalytic molecule (ribozyme).