January 15, 2007

Genetic mutation named after Photoshop

Psst–read any good overviews of the Functions of the Nonsense-Mediated mRNA Decay Pathway in Drosophila Development lately?  (Yeah, who hasn’t, I know…)  I mention it because a mutant phenotype (specifically, a fluorescent protein in fruit flies) has now been nicknamed "photoshop" by researchers Mark Metzstein & Mark Krasnow.  ["Shouldn't that be Adobe® Photoshop® software?" murmur a dozen voices in Adobe Legal. ;-) ]  They write, "We named this the ‘photoshop’ phenotype because it increased visualization of clones like that achieved by digital enhancement with Photoshop software (Adobe, http://www.adobe.com)."  [Ah, says Legal.]  As a highly nonsense-mediated individual, I say very cool, guys!

Surfing the Nodes of Ranvier,
J.