List of unusual biological names
This is a list of unusual biological names, given to biological inventions and discoveries. One might consider the listed names unusual due to their containing pop culture references or puns.
Genes and proteins
In the early days of genomics, genes were often given creative names upon discovery. A nomenclature committee later established naming guidelines, but several early names remain.[1]
| Name | Explanation | Biological role |
|---|---|---|
| Bag-of-marbles | ||
| Buttonhead | ||
| Cheap date[2] | Mutations in this gene cause marked susceptibility to alcohol intoxication | |
| Deadpan | ||
| DIABLO | Direct IAP binding protein, low | |
| Dreadlocks | Mutations in this gene cause cell projections to clump together like dreadlocks | Murine ortholog of Nck |
| Dunce | A memory-related gene | A memory-related gene associated with Rutabaga |
| ELMO | Engulfment and Cell Motility | Contains the family ELMO1, ELMO2, and ELMO3 |
| Exuperantia | Named after St. Exuperantia | A gene associated with dividing the head and body into regions |
| Fizzy-related | ||
| Flippase and floppase | Protein that "flips" and "flops" phosphatidylserines on the cell membrane from the inner side and the outer side, respectively | |
|
Named for the video game character Sonic the Hedgehog | Critical gene involved in development and tumorigenesis |
| Headcase[3] | ||
| Hunchback | ||
| Indy | Short for I'm not dead yet | |
| Ken and Barbie[4] | Mutations in the ken and barbie locus cause loss of external male and female genitalia in a fraction of homozygous flies | Drosophila gene |
| Lunatic Fringe, Manic Fringe, and Radical Fringe | ||
| MAP kinase kinase kinase and MAP kinase kinase kinase kinase | ||
| MinosPhrime[5] | Named after Minos Prime from the video game ULTRAKILL. Found in flower beds outside of college dormitory building, dug 2 inches deep into the soil. Soil was woodchip-heavy. | bacteriophage |
| Mothers against decapentaplegic 1–9, and the associated Daughters against dpp[6] | Takes the name from "Mothers against drunk driving" and similar campaigns | Mutations in the gene of the mother cause improper development in the offspring |
| Moron gene | A prophage gene that has no role in the phage's lysogenic cycle. | |
| NEMO | NF-kappa-B essential modulator | |
| Methuselah-like proteins | Named for Methuselah, extends the lifespan of an organism | |
| NUDEL-Gen | German for "Noodle" | NudE Neurodevelopment Protein 1 Like 1[7] |
| RING | Short for Really Interesting New Gene | |
| POKEMON | POK erythroid myeloid ontogenic factor, changed to Zbtb7 after a lawsuit was threatened[8] | |
| Pikachurin | ||
| Salvador | ||
| Scramblase | An enzyme that "scrambles" phospholipids between the inside and outside of the cell membrane | |
| Slingshot homolog | ||
| Slit-Robo and the associated Netrin-Frazzled | ||
| SMURF1 and SMURF2, which interacts with Mothers against decapentaplegic 7 | SMAD Ubiquitination Regulatory Factor 1/2 | |
| Son of Sevenless | A protein involved in MAPK signal cascade | |
| SPOCK1 | Zebrafish with this mutation develop pointed-ears reminiscent of Spock | |
| SWEET transporters | Sugars will eventually be exported transporter | Sugar transporters |
| Swiss cheese[9] | Mutations cause the brain to develop with lesions resembling Swiss cheese | |
| Spätzle | based on the spaetzle-like (German for a type of noodle) shape of the larvae of D. melanogaster | |
| Tafazzin | Named after the masochistic Italian comic character Tafazzi after alleged hardships in its discovery | |
| Time for Coffee[10] | Active in the night. | Regulator of circadian clock in Arabidopsis thaliana |
| Tinman gene | Named for the tinman, required for proper development of the heart | |
| Toll-like receptors | "Toll" is German for "Amazing", "Awesome". Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard and her colleague Prof. Eric Wieschaus sat at a double microscope that allows two people to examine the same object at the same time. When they saw an embryo mutant one day whose development was ventralised, they were both completely surprised and spontaneously exclaimed "Toll" (great). | |
| UNICORN | Regulates planar growth in Arabidopsis thaliana[11] |
Controversies
Unusual names have caused issues for scientists explaining genetic diseases to lay-people, such as when an individual is affected by a gene with an offensive or insensitive name.[12] This has particularly been noted in patients with a defect in the sonic hedgehog gene pathway and the disease formerly named CATCH22 for "cardiac anomaly, T-cell deficit, clefting and hypocalcaemia for chromosome 22q11.2 microdeletions". This name was abandoned due to the no-win connotations.[13]
In 1993 Alfonso Martinez Arias, a researcher at the University of Cambridge, was ordered to change the name of the gene he had discovered, VELCRO, because of copyright issues with Velcro.[14] The gene was renamed to puckered.[15] In 2005, Pokémon threatened to sue the discoverer of POKEMON because the name was attracting attention when its link to the development of cancer was published.[14]
Molecules
- Moronic acid, a natural triterpene
- Traumatic acid, a monounsaturated dicarboxylic acid naturally occurring in plants
Species
Some species with unusual scientific names, because of length, repetition, or origin or meaning of name, include:
- Aha ha
- Anableps anableps
- Ba humbugi
- Boops boops
- Crikey steveirwini
- Cyrtodactylus australotitiwangsaensis
- Foa fo
- Gorilla gorilla gorilla
- Griseotyrannus aurantioatrocristatus
- Ia io
- Megaloblatta longipennis
- Myxococcus llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogochensis
- Parastratiosphecomyia stratiosphecomyioides
- Penstemon whippleanus
- Turdus maximus
Some species with unusual biological common names include:
- A.E.E.C.L.'s sportive lemur
- Bony-eared assfish
- E.T. sponge
- Slippery dick
- Happy Eddie, a species of shark
- Mountain chicken, a species of frog
Techniques
- Chromatin Interaction Analysis by Paired-End Tag Sequencing (ChIA-PET) is a technique to determine chromatin interactions which shares a name with Chia Pets.
- GluSnFR (Glutamate-sensitive fluorescent reporter ) ("glue-sniffer") is a genetically engineered protein used to monitor glutamate release into the synapse.
- KINC ("Kink") is a computer program used to generate co-expression networks[16]
- SHREC (single-molecule high-resolution colocalization) ("Shrek") is a modified labeling technique named after a titular character in the movie Shrek. Its older sister technique FIONA is still used as well.
- CRISPy TAKO (CRISPR Turbo Accelerated KnockOut) ("crispy taco") is a gene knockout technique useful for in vivo reverse genetic screens.
References
- "The Problem with Naming Genes".
- Moore, Monica S; Dezazzo, Jim; Luk, Alvin Y; Tully, Tim; Singh, Carol M; Heberlein, Ulrike (1998). "Ethanol Intoxication in Drosophila: Genetic and Pharmacological Evidence for Regulation by the cAMP Signaling Pathway". Cell. 93 (6): 997–1007. doi:10.1016/S0092-8674(00)81205-2. PMID 9635429. S2CID 15312752.
- "Headcase".
- Lukacsovich, Tamas; Yuge, Kazuya; Awano, Wakae; Asztalos, Zoltan; Kondo, Shunzo; Juni, Naoto; Yamamoto, Daisuke (2003). "Theken and barbie gene encoding a putative transcription factor with a BTB domain and three zinc finger motifs functions in terminalia development of Drosophila". Archives of Insect Biochemistry and Physiology. 54 (2): 77–94. doi:10.1002/arch.10105. PMID 14518006.
- "Microbacterium phage MinosPhrime". The Actinobacteriophage Database. Archived from the original on 2023-03-20. Retrieved 2023-05-18.
- "FlyBase Gene Report: Dmel\Dad".
- "NDEL1 Gene - GeneCards | NDEL1 Protein | NDEL1 Antibody". www.genecards.org. Retrieved 2022-03-31.
- Brendan Sinclair (2005-12-19). "Pokémon USA threatens to sue cancer researchers". GameSpot. Retrieved 2016-01-31.
- Kretzschmar, D; Hasan, G; Sharma, S; Heisenberg, M; Benzer, S (1997). "The swiss cheese mutant causes glial hyperwrapping and brain degeneration in Drosophila". The Journal of Neuroscience. 17 (19): 7425–32. doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.17-19-07425.1997. PMC 6573436. PMID 9295388.
- "TIC - Protein TIME FOR COFFEE - Arabidopsis thaliana (Mouse-ear cress) - TIC gene & protein". www.uniprot.org. Retrieved 2021-03-12.
- Enugutti, Balaji; Charlotte, Kirchhelle; Oelschner, Maxi; Ruiz, Ramón Angel Torres; Schliebner, Ivo; Leister, Dario; Schneitz, Kay (2012). "Regulation of planar growth by the Arabidopsis AGC protein kinase UNICORN". PNAS. 109 (37): 15060–15065. doi:10.1073/pnas.1205089109. PMID 22927420.
- Hopkin, Michael (2006). "Troublesome gene names get the boot". News@nature. doi:10.1038/news061106-2. S2CID 86514270.
- MacLean, Ken (2006). "Humour of gene names lost in translation to patients". Nature. 439 (7074): 266. Bibcode:2006Natur.439..266M. doi:10.1038/439266d. PMID 16421543.
- Simonite, Tom (2005). "Pokémon blocks gene name". Nature. 438 (7070): 897. Bibcode:2005Natur.438..897S. doi:10.1038/438897a. PMID 16355177.
- "puc puckered [ Drosophila melanogaster (fruit fly) ]".
- Burns, Josh; Shealy, Ben; Feltus, Alex; Smith, Melissa; Ficklin, Stephen (2019). "SystemsGenetics/KINC: Version 3.3.0". Zenodo. doi:10.5281/zenodo.3256358.
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