I'm writing a discussion in a gene expression paper, and I need to refer to a particular gene and corresponding protein product on different species (i.e. fish, human and bacteria). Each of these organisms have a different rule for writing genes and mRNAs. For instance, let us pretend there is a gene called XXX12.
For humans:
gene/mRNA: XXX12
protein: XXX12
For bacteria:
gene/mRNA: xxX12
protein: XxX12
For fish:
gene/mRNA: xxx12
protein: Xxx12
However, when I need to discuss the behavior of these genes in different organisms, the text becomes a total mess and I'm not really confident it will be easily understandable. Does this happens in the literature? How do authors usually deal with it?
Thanks in advance.
For a gene gene called XXX12 virologists like myself name the proteien pXXX12.
Best,
Guenther
Genes: lowercase & italic.
Proteins: UPPERCASE & NORMAL.
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To distinguish between genes and proteins from different organisms, e.g., Homo sapiens vs. Mus musculus, add the intial letters of the species, e.g.:
genes Hs-xxx12 vs. Mm-xxx12; proteins Hs-XXX12 vs Mm-XXX12.
Thank you Martin and Guenther for your contributions.
Guenther, I think I would not be able to use virus' nomenclature for discussing animal genes, but that was a good reference, thank you.
Martin, is this nomenclature widely used? I have seen it being used only in textbooks, but not in current scientific articles.
For instance, most gene expression studies I read have used the nomenclature cited in my original post. Therefore, I'm a bit concerned about following the tips you guys gave me. It would be better if I had also some references to compare with.
Thanks again.
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