top of page

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  • Sometimes the approved gene/protein name or symbol is no longer valid.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:

 

 

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:

 

 

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:

 

 

Fish (use for all fish)

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

 

 

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

TALK TO US

Editors

Augusto Schrank

Marcia Pinheiro Margis
E-mail: editor@gmb.org.br

 

Assistant Editor

Klaus Hartfelder
E-mail: editor@gmb.org.br

 

Editorial Office
Cristina de Morais Cianci
E-mail: editor@gmb.org.br

Instructions to authors

bottom of page