The case for standardizing gene nomenclature in vertebrates

This is the authors' abstract. We don't add key points for this paper.

Standardized gene nomenclature supports unambiguous communication and identification of the scientific literature associated with genes; to support the increasing number of annotated genomes that are now available for comparative studies, gene nomenclature authorities coordinate the assignment of approved gene names that can be readily applied across species. Theofanopoulou et al. 1 propose a new nomenclature for the genes that encode oxytocin and arginine vasopressin and their receptors. Rather than changing to a different nomenclature, we suggest minor updates to the current approved nomenclature of these vertebrate genes to better reflect their evolutionary history. We call on authors, journal editors and reviewers to help support communication and indexing of gene-related publications by working with existing gene nomenclature committees and ensuring that standardized gene nomenclature is routinely used.