Gene/Protein Nomenclature Guidelines and Requirements for GMB Authors:

 

 

1. General Guidelines

 

• ALWAYS use approved gene/protein names and symbols in
  your paper (see below)

• ALWAYS check out every single gene/protein name and
  symbol in your paper (even if you have seen it published
  previously and think you know what it is)

• Sometimes the approved gene/protein name or symbol is no longer valid. In these cases, on first mention of the gene/protein, first use the approved designation and then add in parenthesis (previously known as xxx). Thereafter, use the correct symbol and not the previous designation.

 

 

2. Guidelines for Specific Species

 

Human/Non-human primates/Domestic species/and default for everything that is not a mouse, rat, fish, worm, or fly.

Website for nomenclature rules and finding human gene (and mutant allele) symbols:

 

• http://www.genenames.org

 

General rule:

 

• Full gene names are not italicized and Greek symbols are NEVER used

  • eg: insulin-like growth factor 1

• Gene symbols

  • Greek symbols are never used

  • hyphens are almost never used

  • gene symbols are italicized, all letters are in upper case

    • eg: IGF1 (in italics)

• Proteins designations

  • same as the gene symbol, but not italicized and, depending on species, all in upper case, but at least first letter in upper case

    • eg: IGF1

• mRNA and cDNA use the gene symbol and formatting conventions

  • eg: "... levels of IGF1 (in italics) mRNA increased when..."

 

Mouse/Rat/Chicken

Websites for nomenclature rules and finding gene (and mutant allele) symbols:

 

• (mouse, rat, and chicken) http://www.informatics.jax.org/

• (dedicated to rat) http://rgd.mcw.edu/

 

General nomenclature rules (applicable to mouse, rat, and chicken):

 

• Full gene names are not in italics and Greek symbols are NEVER used

  • eg: insulin-like growth factor 1

• Gene symbols

  • Greek symbols are never used

  • hyphens are almost never used

  • gene symbols are italicized, first letter upper case all the rest lower case

    • eg: Igf1 (italicized)

• Proteins designations

  • same as the gene symbol, but not italicized and all upper case

    • eg: IGF1

• mRNA and cDNA use the gene symbol and formatting conventions

  • eg: "... levels of Igf1 (italicized) mRNA increased when..."

• Mutant alleles should be defined when first mentioned

  • eg: Igf1tm1Arge/Igf1tm1Arge (italicized) is one of several knockout alleles of Igf1 (italicized)

    • All letters and numbers are italicized and the allelic designation (tm1Arge) is a superscript

    • After initial specification, the homozygous KO can be indicated as Igf1   -/-(all in italics and -/- as superscript); the heterozygote is Igf1+/- etc.

 

For more details on these nomenclature conventions, see:

 

• MGI Nomenclature page: http://www.informatics.jax.org/mgihome/nomen/index.shtml

• MGI Quick Guide for Genes: http://www.informatics.jax.org/mgihome/nomen/short_gene.shtml

 

Fish (use for all fish)

Website for nomenclature rules and gene (and mutant allele) symbols

 

• http://zfin.org/cgi-bin/webdriver?MIval=aa-ZDB_home.apg

 

General rules:

 

• Full gene names are italicized, all lower case, NEVER use Greek symbols

  • eg: cyclops (in italics)

• Gene symbols are italicized, all lower case

  • eg: cyc (in italics)

• Protein designations are the same as the gene symbol, but first letter only upper case and not italicized

  • eg: Cyc

 

Fly

Website for nomenclature rules and gene (and mutant allele) symbols

 

http://www.flybase.org

​

​