HUGO Gene Nomenclature Committee facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
HGNC

Content
Description	HGNC is responsible for approving unique symbols and names for human loci, including protein coding genes, RNA genes and pseudogenes, to allow unambiguous scientific communication.
Data types captured	Gene nomenclature
Organisms	Human
Contact
Research center	EMBL-EBI, UK;
Primary citation	Braschi et al. (2019)
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Website
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Web	,
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Curation policy	Yes

The HUGO Gene Nomenclature Committee (HGNC) is a special group that helps scientists understand human genes. It's part of the Human Genome Organisation (HUGO). Their main job is to give every known human gene a unique and clear name. They also give each gene a short symbol, like an abbreviation. This helps scientists around the world talk about the same gene without getting confused.

Why Gene Names Matter

Imagine if many different things had the same name. It would be very confusing! The same problem can happen with genes. Before HGNC, many genes had similar or confusing names. This made it hard for scientists to share their discoveries.

The HGNC makes sure that each human gene has a name and a symbol that belongs only to it. This means when a scientist mentions a gene symbol, everyone knows exactly which gene they are talking about. This makes scientific communication much clearer.

How Genes Get Their Names

The HGNC has a set of rules for naming genes. These rules help keep everything organized and easy to understand.

Key Naming Rules

• Every gene symbol must be unique. No two genes can have the same symbol.
• Symbols should only use Latin letters (A-Z) and Arabic numerals (0-9).
• Symbols should not have punctuation marks. They also don't use "G" for gene, as it's already understood to be a gene.
• Symbols do not mention the species they come from. For example, they don't use "H" or "h" for human.

The HGNC believes that gene naming should change as new technology comes out. This helps keep the names useful for future discoveries. They also have special guides for naming different types of genes.

The Naming Process

When a new human gene is discovered, the HGNC works to give it a proper name. They often contact the scientists who first studied the gene. They ask for their ideas on what the gene should be called.

The HGNC also talks with other groups. This includes committees that name mouse and rat genes. They also work with experts who know a lot about certain gene families. This teamwork helps create names that everyone can agree on.

Changing Gene Names

Sometimes, a gene's name might need to be changed. This is called a revision. The process is similar to naming a new gene. However, changing a name can sometimes cause confusion.

Because of this, the HGNC tries to change a gene name only if most scientists working on that gene agree. They want to make sure that any changes help, rather than hurt, scientific understanding.

See also

In Spanish: HGNC para niños