What is the term for a gene and its corresponding protein?

[icakeov]

Hello again!
Is there a common word/term for a gene and the protein that it codes for?

I know there is signal transduction, but that would be for a whole set of genes and proteins doing a stream of functions. But would there be a name for the specific gene/protein "bundle"?

 

[epenguin]

I can't recall one to mind. But can you give a sentence in which you would need it?

 

[icakeov]

I think this question comes more from the angle of genes always getting the "credit" for making one's eyes a specific color. It would be great to have a nomenclature that includes the protein that the gene comes with. So instead of saying, this gene codes for blue eyes, one would say this "gene/protein combo" makes blue eyes.
It is really about inserting it into the vocabulary and in a way, being fair toward proteins. ;)

 

[BillTre]

Some modern gene terminologies (or nomenclatures) unite the gene and protein names through the conventions used in naming them, while keeping the names distinct in some way to make clear the distinction between protein and gene.

Older names don't always do this, but some are being renamed with newer names.
Genes discovered by finding a mutation in them are often named after the mutant phenotype not the actual function of the gene. These are historic artifacts which are frequently revised.

This conventions were often set-up by the researchers of a particular species, making species specific naming systems.
At least some of the rules have now been changed to make the names used (in zebrafish for example) more similar to the names for humans when their orthology (naming based on homology (derived from a common precursor)) is considered sound.

A lot of zebrafish research is funded by the NIH with the idea it will illuminate human biology (for medical purposes), so the renaming supports this endeavor.

In conversation, it would certainly be understandable to most people to talk about protein X and gene X which encodes protein X.

 

[Fervent Freyja]

The term is proteome. Here's a map to play with: http://www.humanproteomemap.org/index.php