Why Non-ASCII Unicode Characters Should Not Be Used in the Human Genome Variation Society Nomenclature

An article entitled “Solving the :: Fusion Nomenclature Challenge for File and Directory Naming,”1 which was recently published in this journal, proposes alterations to the well-established and globally accepted nomenclature for the formal description of gene fusions2 when naming files and directories. A major barrier across life sciences is the widespread presence of incomplete, erroneous, and undiscoverable variant descriptions and associated metadata in publications and databases. Furthermore, additional common characters widely used throughout the Human Genome Variation Society (HGVS) Nomenclature are recommended by the authors to be replaced with Unicode characters that certain typefaces may render as visually similar but are completely distinct.