Link to this post | posted 11 Feb, 2025 16:10
olubman	We are annotating a large genome from FC cluster. What is the distinction between calling a gene product a protein with "unknown function" versus calling it "hypothetical protein"?

Link to this post | posted 11 Feb, 2025 17:38
debbie	Hi Olga, Technically there is no difference. However, "Hypothetical Protein" is the only acceptable choice. debbie

Link to this post | posted 11 Feb, 2025 17:41
olubman	How do you mean? If given an option, is calling it hypothetical protein more or less accurate?

Link to this post | posted 11 Feb, 2025 19:03

debbie

Olga, The answer is not about accuracy. Rather more about convention and acceptable practice. It is a historical decision between our program and NCBI. It was agreed that Hypothetical Protein was an acceptable term that both parties (SEA-PHAGES and NCBI) was willing to propagate without changing. So while unknown function could be used, it is not. the programs that categorize this stuff needs continuity to function properly, leading us to adopt Hypothetical Protein as a best choice. debbie

Link to this post | posted 12 Feb, 2025 16:10
olubman	Understood!

Link to this post | posted 26 Mar, 2025 01:59
sheninger	Pecaan currently accepts both NKF and hypothetical Protein. So should we change all to hypothetical protein?

Link to this post | posted 26 Mar, 2025 03:19
olubman	I believe " hypothetical protein" is the correct choice.

Link to this post | posted 26 Mar, 2025 11:34
debbie	Hi all, The GenBank file will need to include Hypothetical Protein or hypothetical protein. NKF will not be accepted. debbie

Link to this post | posted 27 Mar, 2025 00:28
sheninger	Can the people who run Pecaan be contacted to remove NKF from their list of accepted functions? It may save the reviewer headaches in getting them all changed over. (old habits die hard, I liked NKF)