Gene Symbol Request Form Notes
Giving unique and meaningful names to every human gene

Contact details

You are required to enter at least an email address and proposed gene symbol so that we can contact you to discuss this.

Publication status

All pre-publication information that is not already in the public domain is treated in confidence. Please indicate the status of your gene from the Published/In Press/Submittted/In Preparation/Unpublished drop down menu, this also helps us to determine the urgency of the request, and list any PMID references that relate to your gene of interest.

1. Search HGNC, MGD, Entrez Gene, Ensembl, VEGA and OMIM to ensure gene/phenotype is not already there.
   
   
2. Formulate possible combinations of letters for the gene symbol. This should be an acronym or abbreviation of the gene name, and begin with the same letter as the gene name. It should be composed of Latin letters and Arabic numbers, with no punctuation. Consult Guidelines for Human Gene Nomenclature. 
   
   
3. Check HGNC and MGD to see which combinations are available.
   
   
4. Check proposed symbol is not in common use elsewhere for a gene in any species, or widely used in publications or any other contexts. Searches of Entrez should help to identify such problems.
   
   
5. Submit the proposed gene symbol to the HUGO Gene Nomenclature Committee for approval.

Please supply us with background information to enable us to decide if the proposed symbol is appropriate.

Other symbols and names used are other identifiers by which this gene is known (if any). Along with the Entrez Gene ID and/or Ensembl ID and public GenBank assession IDs these are very important in helping us trace as much information as possible about the gene in question.

Sequences

Please copy and past your cDNA and/or protein sequences in the boxes provided (fasta format is preferable). If your sequence(s) do not fit in the boxes provided please send them as an email attachment to hgnc@genenames.org.

Additional Information

A space is provided for any additional information which you think should be considered in deciding on an approved gene symbol e.g. Enzyme ID, OMIM ID. If a gene symbol is required in both human and mouse please supply that information and it will then be forwarded to the Mouse Genomic Nomenclature Committee (MGNC) in addition to being reviewed by the HUGO Gene Nomenclature Committee. Wherever possible we try to use the same or closely related symbols for orthologous genes in human and mouse, and this is often extended to the human homologs of genes in other species, unless there is a name available which is more meaningful in terms of gene function. It is therefore very useful if the submitters can supply the names of closely related genes in other species.

NHGRI
	The work of the HGNC is supported by National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) grant P41 HG03345 and Wellcome Trust grant 081979/Z/07/Z.