A 2016 report found that a third of genomics publications contain errors because Microsoft Excel automatically converts the names of genes into dates. For 10 points each:
[10m] A major offender is the gene MARCH-1, which encodes an enzyme that attaches this very common 76-residue peptide to proteins targeted for cellular destruction.
ANSWER: ubiquitin
[10e] Excel also autocorrects the names of septins, the proteins that divide the cytoplasm after this process of cell division, to dates in September.
ANSWER: mitosis [or meiosis; accept cytokinesis]
[10h] The gene DEC1, which encodes one of these RNAs, was renamed to DELEC1 in 2021 to subvert Excel. Xist (“EX-ist”) is another example of these regulatory RNAs, which are bigger than small RNAs and are transcribed from introns.
ANSWER: long noncoding RNAs [or lncRNAs (“link-RNAs”); prompt on noncoding RNAs; prompt on long RNAs]
<Adam Silverman, Science - Biology> ~20877~ <Editor: Adam Silverman>