HUGO Gene Nomenclature Committee
Committee for human gene name standards
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Through Standardization, Gene and International System of Units
Purpose
Full gene names, and especially gene abbreviations and symbols, are often not specific to a single gene. A marked example is CAP which can refer to any of 6 different genes (BRD4 Archived 2013-10-27 at the Wayback Machine, CAP1 Archived 2013-11-02 at the Wayback Machine, HACD1 Archived 2013-10-07 at the Wayback Machine, LNPEP Archived 2012-09-13 at the Wayback Machine, SERPINB6 Archived 2013-10-08 at the Wayback Machine, and SORBS1 Archived 2012-10-12 at the Wayback Machine).
The HGNC short gene names, or gene symbols, unlike previously used or published symbols, are specifically assigned to one gene only. This can result in less common abbreviations being selected but reduces confusion as to which gene is referred to.
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Naming guidelines
The HGNC published its latest human gene naming guidelines in 2020. These may be summarized as:
- gene symbols must be unique
- symbols should only contain Latin letters and Arabic numerals
- symbols should not contain punctuation or "G" for gene
- symbols do not contain any reference to the species they are encoded in, i.e. "H/h" for human
The HGNC states that "gene nomenclature should evolve with new technology rather than be restrictive, as sometimes occurs when historical and single gene nomenclature systems are applied." The HGNC has also issued guides to specific locus types such as endogenous retroviral loci, structural variants and non-coding RNAs.
Naming procedure
When assigning new gene nomenclature the HGNC make efforts to contact authors who have published on the human gene in question by email, and their responses to the proposed nomenclature are requested. HGNC also coordinates with the related Mouse and Rat Genomic Nomenclature Committees, other database curators, and experts for given specific gene families or sets of genes.
Revision
The gene name revision procedure is similar to the naming procedure, but changing a standardized gene name after establishment of a consensus can create confusion, therefore the merit of this is controversial. For this reason the HGNC aims to change a gene name only if agreement for that change can be reached among a majority of researchers working on that gene.