Genetic material as in DNA?
There are three things that make up DNA
1. Phosphates
2.Sugar (not table sugar, but a natural sugar)
3.Nitrogen base (Adenine, Thymine, Guanine, Cytosine)
The sugar and phosphates are combined to make the "backbone" of the DNA, it's what holds the nitrogen bases together.
The nitrogen bases are what makes up the genetic code, two nitrogen bases are joined together in patterns that determine what genes we or any living organisim will have.
Here is the pattern as to what base will pair with:
Adenine and Thymine
and cytosine and guanine.
These pairs of nitrogen bases are called nucleotides.