Gene nomenclature and style

Please ensure that the gene and protein terms used throughout your article adhere to the guidelines provided below.

Official gene symbols

Official NCBI Gene full names and symbols are preferred, although “Other Aliases” will be accepted. The Editors acknowledge that exceptions to these guidelines exist, and these will be considered on a case-by-case basis.

Do not use

  • Superscripts or subscripts (e.g., CB1, not CB1 or CB1)
  • Hyphens (e.g., TNFA, not TNF-A); an exception is Caenorhabditis elegans gene symbols
  • Greek letters: revise as Latin alphabet equivalents (e.g., TNFA, not TNFα; PPARG, not PPARγ)
  • Roman numerals: revise as Arabic numerals (e.g., ABCG1, not ABCGI)

Italicization

Do italicize

  • Gene symbols (e.g., PPARG)
  • Genotypes (e.g., PPARG–/–)
  • mRNAs (e.g., PPARG mRNA)
  • cDNAs

Do not italicize

  • Gene names (e.g., “the peroxisome proliferator–activated receptor γ gene”)
  • Gene products (e.g., “the gene encoding PPARγ”)
  • Phenotypes

Capitalization

Capitalization of gene and protein symbols should be styled according to species. For example,

Humans and non-human primates:

  • Full name: peroxisome proliferator–activated receptor γ
  • Gene symbol: PPARG
  • Protein symbol: PPARγ

Mice and rats:

  • Full name: peroxisome proliferator–activated receptor γ
  • Gene symbol: Pparg
  • Protein symbol: PPARγ

Note that full names of genes and proteins start with a lower-case letter unless they begin with a person’s name (describing a disease/phenotype) or a capitalized abbreviation.

 

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