Synthetic Biology:BioBricks/Naming a new biological part

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Overview

There are no absolute rules for naming new parts for submission into the Registry of Standard Biological Parts. However, there are a few conventions that will make it easier for others to find and use your parts.

BBa_Xnnnn

BB

In the name of a BioBrick, the BB represents BioBricks.

a

The a represents the fact that this is the alpha version of the registry and therefore an alpha part.

X

The X represents the part type and is indicated by a capital letter (A-Z). Certain letters represent specific common classes of parts. It is this letter that is most often chosen incorrectly when naming new parts. Consult the table below for each letter's designated meaning.

Part types

Basic Part Types			Composite Part Types
Type		Description	Type		Description
R	Regulatory	Operator region	E	Reporter	Compound reporter devices
B	RBS	Ribosome binding site	Q	Inverter	Inverter and logic
C	CDS	Protein coding sequence		Composite	Other composite parts
B	Terminator	Transcriptional terminator	I	Project	Student projects
	RNA	RNA binding sites and coding	P	Protein generator	PoPS-to-Protein converter or protein expression cassettes
F	Signalling	Cell-cell signalling		Measurement	Performance measurement constructs
E	Reporter	Basic reporter CDS	T	Temporary	Temporary and trial parts
M	Tag	Tag or Modifier	S	Intermediate	Generated during assembly
V	Plasmid	Plasmids		Other	Parts not yet classified
V	Cells	Cell strains
Y	Yeast	Yeast parts
Z	T7	T7 parts
G	Primer	Primer sequences or primer binding sites

nnnn

The nnnn is a 4-6 digit number representing the specific part itself. Together with the letter specifying the part type, it constitutes an unique designation of the part. Attempting to add a new part with an existing part name will cause an error when using the Registry.

In general, similar parts, especially those created at the same time, will have part numbers that are close together.

Future naming schemes

There is a recognition that the current registry naming scheme has a few flaws.

1. Existing conventions are not enforced uniformly leading to confusing part names.
2. Not all part types are represented in the table above and there is no formal mechanism for creating new part types.
3. The existing naming scheme may not convey enough information. (See the vector naming scheme for a scheme that seeks to convey more information in the vector name.)
4. The part types are inconsistent in their resolution. (For instance, all yeast parts are grouped together but Escherichia coli parts are divided out.)

There is a preliminary proposal for a new Registry organization at the Registry Wish List. Please contribute to the discussion.

References

• Registry of Standard Biological Parts Index

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