There are a number of genes in a genome. They are made up of combinations of DNA and RNA. They combine altogether and express the traits of a human being and make them unique. Each gene has an alphanumeric code that is a symbol. And these symbols are used by scientists to coordinate research. Over the past few years, there are around 27 genes that have been renamed by scientists. This has happened because Microsoft Excel used to misread human genes as dates.
Excel is a spreadsheet world. And it is regularly used by scientists to keep the record of their work and clinical trials. But when the user enters the code of the gene in the spreadsheet, Microsoft Excel changes these human genes into a date for example 1-Mar. It is used for “Membrane Associated Ring-CH-Type Finger 1.
Data is affected due to excel errors
This is dangerous as it corrupts the data. Also, it has affected scientific work. According to a study from 2016, out of 3,597 published papers, one-fifth of them were highly affected by the errors made by Excel.
Dezső Módos, a systems biologist at the Quadram Institute in the UK, told The Verge, that
“It’s really, really annoying,”. His job is to sequence genetic data. He said, “Excel errors happen all the time, simply because the software is often the first thing to hand when scientists process numerical data. It’s a widespread tool and if you are a bit computationally illiterate you will use it,”
Excel does not provide the option to auto-format the data. Thus making changes is difficult. Though, a scientist can change it but can not save it after formatting. However, the result can be avoided. And it is actually easy to correct the mistakes.
This week, HGNC, HUGO Gene Nomenclature Committee has published new guidelines for “symbols that affect data handling and retrieval.”
Human genes and proteins can be renamed with one eye on the auto-formatting of Excel. That is to say, MARCH1 has become MARCHF1 and SEPT1 has become SEPTIN1. This is done so as to avoid confusion.
Till now, 27 genes have been renamed. Elspeth Bruford, the coordinator of HGNC has told the sources (The Verge). He said, “We consulted the respective research communities to discuss the proposed updates, and we also notified researchers who had published on these genes specifically when the changes were being put into effect”
Now the HGNC has taken the matter. The focus of the solution is on practical concerns. Gene symbols should be unique and the names would be brief. The names cannot be superscripted or subscripted. It can only include Latin letters and Arabic numerals.
Offensive Language Should Be Avoided
This is not unusual to rename a gene, Bruford said. Many symbols have been renamed to avoid false positives.
“We always have to imagine a clinician having to explain to a parent that their child has a mutation in a particular gene”. “For example, HECA used to have the gene name ‘headcase homolog (Drosophila),’ named after the equivalent gene in the fruit fly, but we changed it to ‘hdc homolog, cell cycle regulator’ to avoid potential offense,” said Bruford.
Microsoft’s Win Against Human Genetics
The dissent in the decision focuses on one thing. That is the easier way to change the name of the gene than to change in Excel. But why?
Though, there is no theory from Microsoft. But according to Bruford’s theory, “this is quite a limited use case of the Excel software,”. “There is very little incentive for Microsoft to make a significant change to features that are used extremely widely by the rest of the massive community of Excel users.”
Bruford is not bitter about the situation but she asked to wait for the legal update for Excel.
