Proposed standard nomenclature for the α– and β-globin gene families

Abstract

The globin family of genes and proteins has been a recurrent object of study for many decades. This interest has generated a vast amount of knowledge. However it has also created an inconsistent and confusing nomenclature, due to the lack of a systematic approach to naming genes and failure to reflect the phylogenetic relationships among genes of the gene family. To alleviate the problems with the existing system, here we propose a standardized nomenclature for the α and β globin family of genes, based on a phylogenetic analysis of vertebrate α and β globins, and following the Guidelines for Human Gene Nomenclature.