>  comments:    Dear FlyBase Currators,
>     
>     I contact you regarding names of two genes, for which the same
> abbreviation "Met" is used.  This leads to confusion and problems with
> naming genes in other insects.
>     
>     First, a gene CG1705 is listed as "Resistance to Juvenile Hormone"
> or Rst(1)JH in FlyBase.  However, this gene was uncovered in a mutant
> screen in 1986 and then cloned in 1998, and it was named
> "Methoprene-tolerant" (Met) based on the lof phenotype.  Most if not
> all 53 references to this gene that are listed in FlyBase use the name
> "Methoprene-tolerant" (Met) and none uses Rst(1)JH.  All recent
> reviews on JH refer to the protein as Met exclusively.
>   
>     Problem: The acronym Met is used in Flybase for another gene named
> this gene, there are no original articles on it.  From the 3
> references listed under this gene in FlyBase, one is WRONG, because
> Riddiford et al. 1993 <up>FBrf0064791</up>, actually refer to
>"Methoprene-tolerant".  This only shows how the name Met is
>inappropriate for "Metatarsi irregular".
>
>     Therefore, I would like to ask whether FlyBase could consider
> revising the nomenclature.  I would suggest renaming the genes such
> that Met stands for Methoprene-tolerant, and Metatarsi irregular is
> given another abbreviation.
>     
>     I would very much appreciate your response.
>     
>     Best regards,
>     Marek Jindra
>  realname: Marek Jindra
>  usersubject: conflicting gene nomenclature
>  comments:    Dear Flybase Curators,
>     
>     The gene CG1705 is called Rst(1)JH in flybase, however,
>     all the current literature, including the group who has described
> this gene call this gene methoprene-tolerant (Met). All the
> groups/people working on this gene, including Thomas G. Wilson, Ken
> Miura, Marek Jindra, and myself used the name methoprene-tolerant
> (Met). I was wondering whether flybase could make this the official
> name since essentially nobody uses Rst(1)JH. I understand that this
> might be problematic since Met also refers to Metatarsi irregular -
> but nobody is working on this gene - there are no data. The growing
> number of people working on Rst(1)JH = Met would justify an official
> name change to Met. People who are starting their work in our field
> find the Rst(1)JH nomenclature confusing. 
>     
>     Thank you for your help,
>     Best regards,
>     Thomas
>  realname: Thomas Flatt
Dear Thomas,
(I have also cc'd Marek Jindra on this email as he recently sent an
enquiry almost identical to yours.)
I have now looked at all 40 or so primary papers/abstracts/reviews that
are in the FlyBase records as containing a reference to the gene known
as CG1705/Rst(1)JH/Met.  The bottom line is that you're right: almost
without exception, these publications use 'Met' as the symbol to refer
to this gene.  (There is one review article that uses the 'Rst(1)JH'
symbol (once), and another paper in which 'Rst(1)JH' appears in a table
footnote.)  In addition, Lindsley and Zimm (in the red book) use this
symbol - I think this was probably the first use of 'Rst(1)JH' for this
gene.
So, this is an unusally simple situation for us!  And thus, on this
occasion at least, we are able to change the valid FlyBase symbol of
'Rst(1)JH' to 'Met' (retaining 'Rst(1)JH' as a symbol synonym) and
change the valid FlyBase name of this gene to
'Methoprene-tolerant' (retaining 'Resistance to Juvenile Hormone' as a
name synonym).
FYI, the competing gene 'Metatarsi irregular' (which has the current
symbol 'Met') will be given the new symbol 'Metatarsi-irregular' (which
is ugly, but will serve to make the distinction from the new 'Met').
While I will instigate these changes today, they will not become visible
on the website for a little while yet - probably a few months away.
Thank you for your patience, and thanks to you both (Thomas and Marek)
for bringing this issue to our attention.
Steven (for FlyBase)