The Vertebrate Gene Nomenclature Committee (VGNC): Standardising Gene Names and Symbols Across Vertebrate Genomes

Standardised gene nomenclature provides an essential resource for all researchers. However an ever-increasing number of vertebrate genomes are being sequenced and the data released into the public domain without any systematic annotation or gene naming. There are currently only six vertebrate model organisms with an official gene nomenclature group (mouse, rat, chicken, Anolis, Xenopus and zebrafish), all of which base their gene names on those approved by the HUGO Gene Nomenclature Committee (HGNC) for human genes. The Vertebrate Nomenclature Committee (VGNC) is a new initiative that extends the remit of the HGNC to approve gene names and symbols across vertebrates.

The HGNC Comparison of Orthology Predictions (HCOP) (http://www.genenames.org/cgi-bin/hcop) search tool aggregates orthology predictions between human and 17 other species from a range of data sources.. We are leveraging a subset of the homology data in HCOP to identify a consensus set of 1:1 orthologs between human and other vertebrate species. These 1:1 orthologs are candidates for being named in a semi-automated manner, with the human gene nomenclature being transferred the orthologous vertebrate gene. We are starting with Chimpanzee and dog as prototypes before expanding the system to other vertebrate species. Genes with non-consensus orthologs, complex gene families, pseudogenes and RNA genes will require manual curation.

A vertebrate gene nomenclature portal is under development that will store, display and make this new nomenclature data accessible thus enabling consistent, standardised gene naming across vertebrate species.