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<blockquote data-quote="LightPhoenix" data-source="post: 1400924" data-attributes="member: 115">The only feasible way I can think of to standardize naming (of genes) is to base it off of the protein that a gene produces.&nbsp; As for proteins, I think the complexity of the form and function of them makes it all but impossible to name them with any convention.&nbsp; I mean, we can seperate them into classes like serine proteases and so on, but actually naming one is an extremely complex problem.&nbsp; Hell, two different proteins with the same primary structure can have differing tertiary ones.&nbsp; Not to mention something like luciferase, which we can't even fold correctly.&nbsp;IUPAC had it easy with chemistry - single molecules are usually much less complex than genes and proteins.&nbsp; And even so, there's still a lot of the older naming conventions floating around that are acceptable.&nbsp; Can you imagine how hard it would be to get everyone using a single standard for biochemistry and molecular bio, and remembering it?&nbsp; It'd be the equivalent, IMO, of trying to switch the US over to the metric system.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="LightPhoenix, post: 1400924, member: 115"] The only feasible way I can think of to standardize naming (of genes) is to base it off of the protein that a gene produces. As for proteins, I think the complexity of the form and function of them makes it all but impossible to name them with any convention. I mean, we can seperate them into classes like serine proteases and so on, but actually naming one is an extremely complex problem. Hell, two different proteins with the same primary structure can have differing tertiary ones. Not to mention something like luciferase, which we can't even fold correctly. IUPAC had it easy with chemistry - single molecules are usually much less complex than genes and proteins. And even so, there's still a lot of the older naming conventions floating around that are acceptable. Can you imagine how hard it would be to get everyone using a single standard for biochemistry and molecular bio, and remembering it? It'd be the equivalent, IMO, of trying to switch the US over to the metric system. [/QUOTE]

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