Intergenic region

Ok kiddo, so let's imagine that the DNA in our body is like a big long road with lots of different houses on it. Each house represents a gene, which is like a set of instructions for our body to make something, like a protein.

But in between these houses, there are some empty spaces where there are no genes. These empty spaces are called intergenic regions. They are like little parks or fields in between the houses.

Scientists used to think that these intergenic regions didn't do very much, but now they realize that they are actually really important. They can control when and how genes get turned on or off, and they can even help to coordinate different genes to work together.

So just like a park or a field can be a really important part of a neighborhood, even though there's no house on it, these intergenic regions are a really important part of our DNA.