Ever feel the urge to curl up into a little ball, roll down a hill and grab some rings?That could be your Sonic hedgehog gene acting up. Some humourous chimp in a lab coat thought he could impress his friends by naming this gene after the Sega videogame character.
Read more here.
I like the line: Some clinicians and scientists criticise giving genes frivolous or quirky names, calling it inappropriate that patients with “a serious illness or disability are told that they or their child have a mutation in a gene such as Sonic hedgehog.
It’s not funny but it does make us laugh.
August 17, 2007 at 9:01 am |
I worked with the guy who discovered (but didn’t name) Sonic. Some related gene’s had been found earlier that were named after various types of Hedgehog. So they deicded to name this one Sonic. Of course it turned out to be the most important.
Developmental genes have great names like “nude”, “wingless”, “son of sevenless”, “frizzled” etc.etc. Makes them easier to remember too!
April 22, 2009 at 6:45 am |
Hey, cool tips. Perhaps I’ll buy a glass of beer to the person from that forum who told me to visit your blog