Zebrafish Science Monitor Vol 4(1)

June 10, 1996

ZEBRAFISH NOMENCLATURE

Adapted from: Mullins, M. (1995) TIG Genetic Nomenclature Guide: Zebrafish. Cambridge, UK: Elsevier Trends Journals, p. 31-32.

By M. Mullins, University of Pennsylvania, Dept/Cell & Developmental Biology, 605 Stellar-Chance, 422 Curie Blvd., Philadelphia, PA 19104-6058 USA; (215) 898-2644/ FAX (215) 898-9871; MULLINS@MAIL.MED.UPENN.EDU

Conventions

Zebrafish gene names are lower case and italicized. Abbreviations should be three Roman (no Greek) letters, or three letters with a number (no hyphens) italicized. Names are not preceded by "z" or "zf". Examples: cyclops, cyc, engrailed2, eng2.

Genes and Other Loci

For genes identified by mutation, the name chosen for the gene reflects the mutant phenotype, e.g. floating head, no tail. When mutations in different genes confer similar phenotypes, the genes should be given distinct names. Names identical to those used in other species should be avoided unless the genes are known to be homologous.

Genes identified by cloning are named according to the same principles except that gene families identified in this way may be distinguished by letters following the name, e.g. eng1, eng2, eng3. Genes cloned by homology with genes in other organisms should be given the same name as their counterpart in the other organism, but designated according to the zebrafish conventions, e.g. the zebrafish homologue of the mouse Wnt1 gene would be wnt1.

Alleles

Wild-type alleles are designated by a superscript plus symbol, e.g. brs+. Mutant alleles may be designated generically by a superscript minus, e.g. brs-. Specific mutant alleles are denoted by superscripts following the gene name. Dominant mutant alleles are designated by a "d" in the first position of the superscript. There follows a letter designating the laboratory in which the allele was identified, and unique characters for the particular allele. Thus, each mutant allele has a unique designation. For example, cycb16, cycb13, and cycb229 are recessive alleles of cyclops identified in Eugene, Oregon (laboratory designation "b"). Some other laboratory designations are "m" for MGH, Boston; "t" for Tübingen; "n" for Newcastle.

Chromosomes and Linkage Groups

Cytological definitions of chromosomes are not yet available. The numbering system of linkage groups (I-XXV) should be used for now (Johnson et al., Genetics 142:1277-1288, 1996).

Nomenclature Committee

Mary Mullins (chair, see address above), Chuck Kimmel (University of Oregon, USA), José Campos-Ortega (University of Cologne, Germany), John Postlethwait (University of Oregon, USA), Nigel Holder (The Randall Institute, King's College, University of London, UK).

The full nomenclature guidelines are available in Mullins, M. (1995) Genetic methods: conventions for naming zebrafish genes, The Zebrafish Book: A Guide for the Laboratory Use of Zebrafish (Danio rerio), Edition 3, M. Westerfield, ed., Eugene, Oregon: University of Oregon Press, p.p. 7.1-7.4. They are also available in the on-line version of The Zebrafish Book, which is part of the documentation provided by the WWW zebrafish server at the University of Oregon http://zfin.org.

The Zebrafish Science Monitor, Vol 4(1)

Return to Contents