SENSE vs. ANTI-SENSE DNA CALL FOR VOTES

[Paul N Hengen]

           *** SENSE vs. ANTI-SENSE DNA CALL FOR VOTES ***
                      DEADLINE 16 February 1996

The confussion about the terms `sense' and `anti-sense' and the discepancies
found throughout both scientific journals and molecular biology textbooks was
recently discussed on bionet.molbio.methds-reagnts. A huge thread which
essentially grew into an electronic bulletin board virtual conference concluded
that Dr. Richard Moldwin's <rmoldwin at midway.uchicago.edu> proposal is probably
the best solution to the problem.  The proposal is that the terminology for the
strands of DNA with respect to transcription should be as follows:

When referring to DNA, the terms should be `Transcribed Strand' (the
anti-parallel complementary strand to the mRNA) of a specific gene and
`Non-Transcribed Strand' (the strand with the same sequence as the mRNA) of a
specific gene.  These can be shortened to the T-strand of gene X and the
N-strand of gene X.  The T-strand of gene X could also be the N-strand of gene
Y if X and Y are read from the same region of the DNA.  Since the gene is
defined, these terms can be used without confusion.

When referring to RNA, messenger RNA read from the T-strand should be
designated as sense RNA, and the anti-parallel complement to that message
designated as anti-sense RNA.


Your vote is either:

yes = adopt this terminology

            or

no = do not adopt this terminology

Since this tally will be done by computer program, it is important to
follow the instructions below:

To vote, send an e-mail message to: pnh at ncifcrf.gov
On the subject line write: Antisense vote
In the body, place a one line message: yes -  your name (e-mail address)

If the proposal passes, I will list all the names and e-mail addresses of the
yes voting virtual committee in a table which could possibly be published in a
letter to a well known journal.  The deadline for sending in a vote is Friday
16 February 1996 at which time the tally will be made and posted to
bionet.molbio.methds-reagnts

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* Paul N. Hengen, Ph.D.                           /--------------------------/*
* National Cancer Institute                       |Internet: pnh at ncifcrf.gov |*
* Laboratory of Mathematical Biology              |   Phone: (301) 846-5581  |*
* Frederick Cancer Research and Development Center|     FAX: (301) 846-5598  |*
* Frederick, Maryland 21702-1201 USA              /--------------------------/*
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