Clever Gene Names

Kryptonite mutation suppresses the function of superman (see below). Kryptonite is the well known Achilles heel of Superman, although some sources say he has recently been cured of the allergy.

Superman mutants have extra stamens (male genitals) in their flowers. After it, another similar mutation was found, only more whimpish. It was named  clark kent. Later, however, it turned out that clark kent is only another form of superman. See also kryptonite.

As well as chablis, frascati, merlot, retsina, riesling, cabernet, grenache, chardonnay, chianti, pinotage, sauternes, weissherbst, zinfandel, freixenet and yquem: mutations in these loci cause defects in hematopoiesis (production of blood cells). See also moonshine below.

A mutation in this locus causes the embryo to be bloodless at the onset of circulation (named by the same research group as the wine genes also affecting blood cell development).

Dunce flies are impaired in learning. The name also refers to John Duns Scotus, the
founder of Scotist School in the 13th century, who was an opponent to the revival of classical learning.

Mutants don't get any progeny, as happened to the royal Tudor family.

Mutant larvae are unable to hatch. In 'The Cask of Amontillado' by Edgar Allan Poe, a man is walled-in while still alive.

(As well as valiet, tungus, barbos, laska, ikar, rogdi,  pastrel, toi, rafael, milkah, avgust, murashka, beluy, mampus, novichok, mirta, rijiy, diana, zolotistyuy, rosa, gryzun, chyorny, moladietz, dikar, nord, drujok, jack, martik, premjera, visgun, zloday.) These fly mutants have problems in long-term memory. They are named after  Ivan Pavlov's famous drooling dogs.

Malvolio gene is needed for normal taste behavior. Malvolio, in Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, 'taste[d] with distempered appetite'.

The gene represses activity of the nanos gene (Greek for "dwarf"). In J.R.R. Tolkien's Hobbit, the dragon Smaug drove dwarves away from their caves.

Tinman mutants lack the heart, as did the Tin Woodman in 'Wizard of Oz'.

In the mutant, mRNA of the oskar gene gets stuck and cannot reach the posterior pole of the egg cell. William Barents was a famous explorer whose ship became frozen in the ice during an attempt to get to the North Pole in 1596.

One pole of the mitotic spindle (which arranges the chromosomes during cell division) is defective in the mutant. Robert F. Scott's Antarctic expedition ended tragically in 1913.

These mutants are have problems with gravity. Gene was found on the 40th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin's historic space flight.

After the movie Monty Python and Holy Grail, in which a person taken to be buried protests: I'm not dead yet! The average life span of mutants is namely doubled.

Kojak flies lack wing bristles. Kojak (Telly Savalas), the hard-boiled cop, lacked something on his head. The gene is also known with the name shavenoid.

Developing axons of the nerve cells are abnormally projected. (Well, the name is not THAT clever, but what about the new movie, then?)

Some cells in the tribbles mutants divide uncontrollably. The name is from the original Star Trek episode 'The Trouble with Tribbles'. The more the tribbles ate, the faster they multiplied.

The 18-wheeler gene is expressed in 18 stripes in developing larva.

Mutation causes a failure in heart development. For a broken heart with nongenetic etiology, a cure is fortunately available.

The clown flies' eyes have a characteristic white and red appearence.

Some of the mutant flies have crippled legs, resembling the dachshund.

Brains of mutants deteriorate rapidly. They start walking in uncoordinated manner and soon die.

Nuclear export defects occur in embargoed mutants.

Mutant males aren't interested in females. Later, more politically renamed as fruitless.

Female icebox mutants do not care about courting males.

The gene is involved in protein transport.

Mutation causes increased affection to alcohol.

The gene interacts with string.

Suzan Lewis, working in the FlyBase release 3 annotation project, writes about naming the gene: "It is the middle of the night (2:38 to be precise), I am away from friends and family, It has been this way for over 2 years, I can't sleep because of all the work there is yet to do, and there is no end in sight. So when do the magic little elves appear out of nowhere and get everything done?"

Mutant males get stuck in females.

Mutant flies' brains have swiss-cheese-like holes.

Cheryl Van Buskirk writes: "The mutant ovaries produce egg chambers that contain eight instead of sixteen cells. Since there are 16oz in a pint, we figured it was a pretty fitting name. Half pint is also an informal term for a very short person, and it so happens that the mutant eggs were indeed quite short. Sadly, the official gene name has since become Dmel/pUf68, based on its molecular weight and homology to poly-U binding splicing factors, and the name half pint is considered a synonym."

The fuculokinase gene of this bacterium is known of this clever abbreviation.

Abbreviation for janus kinase. The gene codes an essential kinase (= an enzyme phosphorylating other proteins) that functions in the internal signalling system of cells. In the Janus kinases, there are two phosphate-transferring domains. Thus, it got its name from the Roman two-faced gatekeeper of the heaven Janus. 
The abbreviation JAK is also said to stand for "just another kinase" as there are so overwhelmingly many kinases in the body that no-one can remember them all anyway.

One of the POK genes (encoding proteins which turn off other genes): POK Erythroid Myeloid Ontogenic factor. Pokemon is an oncogene: if it is mutated, it can cause cancer. In fact, it appears to be a master switch for cancer.
The primary name recommended by OMIM is "ZINC FINGER- AND BTB DOMAIN-CONTAINING PROTEIN 7".

Tigger is a transposable element in the human genome, i.e. it can jump to another location in the genome. Tigger, in A.A. Milne's Winnie the Pooh, was a bouncy, trouncy, flouncy, pouncy character.

This stands for at least eleven different genes in the human.

The full name of this gene is "sema domain, seven thrombospondin repeats (type 1 and type 1-like), transmembrane domain (TM) and short cytoplasmic domain, (semaphorin) 5A". When a new gene is found, often all that is known of it is that it resembles some other genes. So, it easily gets named "gene like this and that gene", like this one involved in axonal guidance. Fortunately, this gene is usually called just SEMA5A, which is its official short symbol.

Mutant sheep have huge, muscular bottoms. Callipyge (greek) means "beautiful buttocks".

The gene guides growing nerve axons in grasshopper. Lazarillo earns his living by guiding a blind person in a 16. century Spanish novel by an anonymous author "La vida de Lazarillo de Tormes y de sus fortunas y adversidades contadas por el mismo" or  "The Life of Lazarillo of Tormes, his fortunes and misfortunes as told by himself."