Light Moments in the Lab

Groucho Marx, Cleopatra, and Thor. Such popular names from history and mythology often enter discussions in a gene lab, and usually not even during the coffee breaks. Though seemingly trivial, and unrelated to the business of genetics, these mythic monikers not only help postdoc trainees and their mentors weather long hours of workplace toil, but they also offer answers to a tall question: "So what do I name this gene?" 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. Name It as You See It The origin of such whimsical names can be traced to the father of genetics, T.H. Morgan. In 1910 he named a mutant Drosophila gene 'white' for its white eyes. Whether common sense or saucy humor for the times spawned such cavalier naming is debatable. Nevertheless, Morgan established a paradigm: name the fly gene as you see it. "It's just been a tradition in the field," says Thomas Kaufman, distinguished professor of biology at Indiana University, Bloomington. "Drosophila doesn't have a nomenclature police...no one would believe in supporting something so frivolous." Drosophila Gene Names1,2 ken and barbie — male and female flies with this mutant gene lack external genitalia kojak — the wings of these mutants' lack bristles, and are as bald as its hard-boiled cop's namesake indy — acronym for "I'm not dead yet" from Monty Python and the Holy Grail; the lifespan of these mutants is nearly double that of normal genes lush— mutations cause an increased affection for alcohol swiss cheese— holes in mutants' brain give the appearance of this dairy edible yuri — like the famous Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, these flies also have problems with gravity Since Morgan handed his fly a droll handle, his followers in fly lore have expanded the genetic lexicon, setting science editors scurrying to keep pace. The US National Institutes of Health and the UK's Medical Research Council coordinate a research consortium to build FlyBase (flybase.bio.indiana.edu), a database on the genetics and molecular biology of Drosophila. And while inventing the silly sobriquet will not help a scientist scale the ladder of scholarly success, it may allow the research team to carve out an eternal home among the other names on FlyBase. The database incorporates information on more than 24,500 genes, adding 1,000 each year, says Aubrey deGrey, database software specialist for FlyBase. The data store allows researchers to reserve a name even before they publish it. Yohn also created Flynome (www.flynome.com) to track the function and history behind Drosophila names. Because the discoverer holds the right to christen a gene, these libraries have become repositories of puns, jokes, and cultural and historical references. "It's one-upmanship," explains Michael Thomson, a postdoctoral fellow at the department of plant breeding at Cornell University in Ithaca, NY. "If someone calls a gene something interesting, there's a desire there to match wits." Some geneticists base a name on the phenotype resulting from a mutation and the appellative becomes a kind of mnemonic device. "I was working with Eric Wieschaus [1995 Nobel Laureate winner in medicine] and some of the most fun was hearing the stories behind the gene names. Eric and his colleagues had 150 genes to name, so they got clever about it," relates Ellen Wilson of the Huntsman Cancer Institute at the University of Utah. Recalls Wieschaus: "We named one of the mutants shotgun, because it looked as if it had been pelted by one. If you're going to name a gene, you may as well give it one that will stick out in someone's mind." Another lab dubbed a mutant Drosophila gene responsible for an excess of facial bristles groucho after the mustachioed comedian; mutants that express high sensitivity to alcohol became the cheap dategenes. A Creative Outlet As fly research persists unabated, scientists clutch popular tags the way drivers seize sought-after vanity plates, forcing foreshortening to preserve the discoverer's dream handle. The RING (really interesting new gene) family offers a case in point. Some researchers distinguish themselves for multilingual elegance. Kaufman's lab named a gene zerknüllt, German for wrinkled, with the abbreviation, zen. "We decided that if we used a German name for a gene with an Asian abbreviation, we needed a reciprocal," he says. His team christened the neighboring gene 'fushi tarazu', a Japanese insult for the vertically challenged. The abbreviation? futz. Genetic nomenclature can't always be fun and games. Some genes are named for their function. Guidelines for naming Caenorhabditis elegans stipulate that each gene name must have three letters and a number, for example. Such internal consistency offers the preoccupied postdoc few prospects for pleasure, but may relieve the next researcher of decoding inside jokes. With their loads thus lightened, the sober scholars can venture on to a somewhat higher mission: decoding the many millions of genes yet discovered. "I think that the trivialness of a name can remind us of our current level of ignorance," Wieschaus says. Hal Cohen can be reached at hcohen@the-scientist.com. References 1. See also, P. Smaglik, "Creativity, confusion for genes," The Scientist, 12[7]:1, March 30, 1998 2. www.helsinki.fi/~mniku/bio/geenit/en/

Light Moments in the Lab

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