Drosophila gene nomenclature
Some notes on gene and protein nomenclature, based on this extensive guidehere.For genes use ‘genename’when the original allele was recessive and ’Genename’for genes found with a dominant allele. Always italicize.Gene abbreviations are similar, e.g. ’gen’or ’Gen’.The name for the protein product of that gene is ‘Genename’ (regardless of capitalization in the gene’s name), while the symbol for the protein product is ‘Gen’. Never italicize if you are referring to a protein.Use the gene name and abbreviation given by Flybase, even if most of the field uses something else.A UAS transgene is a gene too, so use ‘UAS-genename’ or ‘UAS-gen’ to refer to it, i.e. italicize. The same goes for ‘gen-Gal4’.Separate chromosomes with a ‘;’ between the names of alleles carried on those chromosomes e.g. “w; gen-Gal4; UAS-gen”. If there is ambiguity about the chromosome and it is important, you can add a superfluous semicolon, e.g. “gen-Gal4; ;UAS-gen”to indicate theGal4is on the X and theUASis on III.Gene naming rules are different in other species, look up their nomenclature if you have to.Please tell me if you catch me breaking these guidelines.