1. The gene name should consist of three letters (the gene symbol) followed by an integer (e.g. ADE12).

2. Dominant alleles of the gene (most often wild-type) are denoted by all uppercase letters, while recessive alleles are denoted by all lowercase letters.

3. The 3-letter gene symbol should stand for a description of a phenotype, gene product or gene function.

4. A superscript "+" is reserved for wild-type, e.g., ARG⁺.

5. Alleles of a gene are designated by a hyphen, e.g., arg2-9.

6. Gene, allele, aberration and transponson/transgene-construct names and symbols are italicized in printed text. When used to indicate phenotype, rather than genotype (e.g., protein, strain), then the name or symbol is printed in non-italic type.

7. For stain names, the first letter is upper case and the rest lower case (e.g., Arg⁺).