Genetypes is a taxonomic concept proposed in 2010 to describe any genetic sequences from

type specimens In biology, a type is a particular specimen (or in some cases a group of specimens) of an organism to which the scientific name of that organism is formally attached. In other words, a type is an example that serves to anchor or centralizes t ...

. This nomenclature integrates

molecular systematics Molecular phylogenetics () is the branch of phylogeny that analyzes genetic, hereditary molecular differences, predominantly in DNA sequences, to gain information on an organism's evolutionary relationships. From these analyses, it is possible to ...

and terms used in

biological taxonomy In biology, taxonomy () is the scientific study of naming, defining ( circumscribing) and classifying groups of biological organisms based on shared characteristics. Organisms are grouped into taxa (singular: taxon) and these groups are given ...

. This nomenclature is designed to label, or flag, genetic sequences that were sampled from type specimens. The nomenclature of genetypes proposes that genetic sequences from a

holotype A holotype is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism, known to have been used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of several ...

should be referred to as a “hologenetype” (from “holotype” and “genetype”), sequences from a topotype should be a “topogenetype”, and so forth. In addition, the

genetic marker A genetic marker is a gene or DNA sequence with a known location on a chromosome that can be used to identify individuals or species. It can be described as a variation (which may arise due to mutation or alteration in the genomic loci) that can be ...

(s) used should be incorporated into the nomenclature (e.g. paragenetype ND2). The genetypes nomenclatural system could be used to flag “gold standard” sequences that due to their direct link to type specimens will be more credible than standard sequences whose species identification may be problematic. Misidentifications plague many sequences on

GenBank The GenBank sequence database is an open access, annotated collection of all publicly available nucleotide sequences and their protein translations. It is produced and maintained by the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI; a part ...

and having some sequences that are linked to type specimens will help locate and manage misidentifications and to create positively identified "gold standard" sequences available for comparison. It is suggested that this nomenclature be used in publications and databases that display or discuss sequences from type specimens. Examples of genetypes include: * ''

Leptoderma ''Leptoderma'' is a genus of slickheads found in the deep waters of the ocean The ocean (also the sea or the world ocean) is the body of salt water that covers approximately 70.8% of the surface of Earth and contains 97% of Earth's wat ...

macrophthalmum'' hologenetype mitogenome
AP011500
* ''

Milyeringa ''Milyeringa'' is a genus of blind cavefish from the Cape Range and Barrow Island, northwestern Australia. Although traditionally considered to belong to the family Eleotridae, studies show that they represent a distinct and far-separated linea ...

brooksi'' paragenetype COI
HM590595
ref name=CHAKRABARTY2010b> * ''Milyeringa brooksi'' paragenetype NDI
HM590607
ref name=CHAKRABARTY2010b/> The genetypes concept was superseded by the GenSeq concept, proposed in 2013 due to some confusion among researchers that genetypes were equivalent to

name-bearing type Under the ''International Code of Zoological Nomenclature'' (''Code''), the name-bearing type is the biological type that determines the application of a name. Each animal taxon regulated by the ''Code'' at least potentially has a name-bearing type. ...

References

{{Reflist Biological nomenclature Taxonomy (biology)

See also

References