Human and orthologous gene nomenclature

Standardised human gene nomenclature is an essential tool for all researchers, and applying this nomenclature to orthologous genes in other species greatly extends its utility. As more genomes are sequenced and annotated the wealth of information in the public domain concerning homologous genes and their products increases greatly. Here we review many of the resources currently available for identifying orthologs and paralogs, and viewing regions of synteny between genomes, and discuss how these can and are being used in the process of nomenclature assignment. Whilst synchronised gene naming has been actively pursued between human and mouse for many years, and continues apace, it is hoped that this nomenclature will eventually be extended to many other comparative genomes.