Subject: Helping FlyBase: ADRC-10748
Dear Joseph,
We are currently curating the abstracts for the upcoming 43rd
(San Diego) Annual Drosophila Research Conference, for FlyBase.
I am writing in connection with your abstract:
'Identification and characterization of YETI, a novel kinesin-I associated
protein.'
You mention a gene that is new to FlyBase, Yeti. A gene named yeti has
been reported to FlyBase previously \- see the record for FBgn0016081
(the gene is now known as fry). I doubt very much whether the two
yetis (!) are the same gene, but I need you to confirm that for me.
Do you know which of the Genome Project CG annotations your Yeti
corresponds to? (What you say about 'not yet been located within the
Drosophila genome' does not rule this out, I think). All the CGs have
corresponding gene records in FlyBase already and we don't like to make
duplicate records for what is actually the same gene unless we can't
avoid it. If your gene does not correspond to a CG then perhaps you
could tell me its map location, as this is valuable information for the
genome annotation project.
Finally \- what is the derivation of the Yeti name? We record this for
interestingly named genes (for fun!)
Thank you very much for your help,
with best wishes,
Rachel.
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Rachel Drysdale, Ph.D.
FlyBase (Cambridge),
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Subject: Re: Helping FlyBase: ADRC-10748
Dear Rachel,
I am sure that YETI and furry are not the same gene. We pulled YETI out of a
2-hybrid
screen of an embryonic cDNA library. It is encoded by EST GH01620, and the
gene is
within genomic clone AE003220. The YETI protein is 241aa, and appears to be
the fly
homolog of mammalian BCNT and cp27 (which have no known function). YETI does
not have a
CG annotation (I did a BLASTX and TBLASTX searches on fruitfly.org today).
We do not yet know its map location (I am hoping the genome sequencing project
will help
 :-) ). The YETI gene is flanked by transposable elements, which probably
explains why it
has not yet been assembled into the genomic sequence.
We named the gene Yeti because ofits similarity to the abominable snowman.
Yeti is in
the fly genome, but we don't know exactly where. By analogy, the abominable
snowman is
in the Himalayas, but we don't know exactly where. We had also considered
calling the
gene Bigfoot, Nessie, Jersey Devil, or Skunk Ape, but Yeti was the most poetic.