Unbeknownst to me at the time, the powers that be had decided the name was not descriptive enough and these enzymes should from that point on be known as PSMOs, or polysubstrate monooxygenases, because they attach a single oxygen atom to many different substrates. Now, P450s are referred to by the acronym CYP, for CYtochrome P- 450. I confess that, by that point, I was too distressed to listen to the fourth talk at all. While acronyms have probably always been with us in biology, they've kind of been getting out of control lately. Time was when acronyms were more or less the exclusive province of electrical engineering.
Molecular biology is without doubt the most acronym- intensive area of contemporary biology.
This field not only has acronyms, it has synonyms for acronyms. For that matter, this field has acronyms made up of other acronyms. The world hasn't seen this kind of acronym use since the days of the KGB in the USSR at the height of the Cold War. I think excessive acronym use might be one of the reasons I am often slightly uncomfortable when reading articles dealing with molecular biology. The trend is clear acronyms will not only not go away, they will infiltrate all areas of biology, including entomology.