Mountains, machines, and maneuvers typically take their discoverers' surnames. But gene work is teamwork, and even the lowliest member helps decode. Thus handing out credit requires sharing the spotlight. Instead of squabbling for recognition, researchers may vie to supply comic relief.
A developmental genetics lab at the Skirbill Institute in New York University discovered a gene in which the RNA moves to the back of the cell. One researcher suggested naming the gene 'Rosa Parks' after the Civil Rights heroine who refused to move to the back of the bus in the then-segregated South. Proponents argued on behalf of wit, but naysayers warned that the eponym could belittle the gene's namesake. "It was considered too 'un-PC' by some," says Christopher Yohn, a postdoc in Skirbill's department of developmental genetics. And so, the hunt for that label trundles on.
Since Morgan handed his fly a droll handle, his followers in fly ...
