Sunday, October 17, 2010

Zbtb7

(LINK)
Zbtb7, originally named Pokemon, is a gene that may act as a master switch for cancer, and is responsible for the proliferation of cancer throughout surrounding cells.  Discovery of the gene was first published in the January 2005 issue of Nature. The original name, Pokemon, stands for "POK erythroid myeloid ontogenic factor" and is most likely a backronym of the Pokémon media franchise. Nintendo subsidiary Pokémon USA, not wanting the bad press inherent with its trademark sharing a name with a cancer-causing gene, threatened legal action in December 2005, at which point it was decided to rename it as Zbtb7.

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