Practice question

Intergenic DNA spans chromosomal intervals situated between defined gene transcription unit boundaries. In human genome, vast intergenic expanses contain regulatory elements including enhancers, silencers, insulators, locus control regions, replication origins, and transposable element remnants. Promoters themselves often reside within intergenic region immediately upstream of start site. Unlike intronic DNA which lies inside transcription unit interrupted by exons and removed by splicing, intergenic sequences never transcribed as part of that gene. Compact bacterial genomes minimize intergenic distances, whereas eukaryotes exploit intergenic regions for regulatory complexity and chromatin organization.