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Naming things is essential for people to understand one another, no matter what language or field of interest is involved. This is as true for enzymes, genes and chemicals as it is for birds, food, flowers, etc.   Keith Tipton and Sinéad Boyce(p34) Molecules and their interactions underlie every area of medicine. Many classes of molecules are described according to rules or conventions, some of which are covered in other sections of this chapter. The Joint Commission on Biochemical Nomenclature (JCBN) formulates nomenclature policy for classes of biochemicals; see http://www.chem.qmul.ac.uk/iupac/jcbn/index.html#1. (JCBN enzyme nomenclature is described in , Enzyme Nomenclature.) The National Center Less

The following sections of chapter have subsections on molecular terms: , Cancer; , Cardiology; and , Neurology. The following sections of chapter substantially deal with molecular terminology: , Blood Groups, Platelet Antigens, and Granulocyte Antigens; , Genetics; , Hemostasis; and , Immunology. The following tabulation gives molecular terms associated with subjects covered elsewhere in this chapter: | Less

Molecular terms often are more familiar in unexpanded form; their expansions may be obscure. Molecular terms often mix numbers, letters, and cases. They may be abbreviations or abbreviations within abbreviations (for instance, see TAF and subsequent entries in Table ). Molecular terms differ from standard abbreviations, which typically are uppercase initialisms (eg, premature ventricular contraction, PVC). In contrast, many molecular terms are (or incorporate) contractions of single words, using all lowercase letters or mixing capital and lowercase letters (eg, apo, apolipoprotein; Hb, hemoglobin). Letter prefixes (including Greek letters) and numeric prefixes are linked to the main term by hyphens.α1-antitrypsin β-catenin Less

Enzyme nomenclature was formalized in the 1950s. It is formulated by the International Union of Biochemistry (IUB) and the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC), more specifically, the Nomenclature Committee of the International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (NC-IUBMB) and the IUPAC-IUB Joint Commission on Biochemical Nomenclature. There are around 3500 listed enzymes. Officially assigned names and numbers for enzymes are available at the Enzyme Nomenclature Database: http://www.chem.qmul.ac.uk/iubmb/enzyme/. Rules for enzyme nomenclature are available at http://www.chem.qmul.ac.uk/iubmb/enzyme/rules.html. There are 3 types of enzyme name: recommended name (common, working, or trivial name), systematic name, and Enzyme Commission (EC) number. Less