Question

Difference between intergenic regions and introns

Answer 1

Intergenic regions are different from intragenic regions (orintrons), which are short, non-coding regions that are found within genes, especially within the genes of eukaryotic organisms.

Answer 2

An Intergenic region (IGR) is a stretch of DNAsequences located between genes.[1]Intergenic regions are a subset of noncoding DNA. Occasionally some intergenic DNA acts to control genes nearby, but most of it has no currently known function. It is one of the DNA sequences sometimes referred to as junk DNA, though it is only one phenomenon labeled such and in scientific studies today, the term is less used. Recently transcribed RNA from the DNA fragments in intergenic regions were known as "dark matter" or "dark matter transcripts".[2]

PropertiesEdit

Intergenic regions are different from intragenic regions (or introns), which are short, non-coding regions that are found within genes, especially within the genes of eukaryotic organisms.

According to the ENCODE project's study of the human genome, due to "both the expansion of genic regions by the discovery of new isoforms and the identification of novel intergenic transcripts, there has been a marked increase in the number of intergenic regions (from 32,481 to 60,250) due to their fragmentation and a decrease in their lengths (from 14,170 bp to 3,949 bp median length)"[3]

Scientists have now artificially synthesized proteins from intergenic regions.[4]