The rat gene nomenclature subcommittee is in contact with the human and mouse nomenclature committees, in order to continually adjust the rat symbols to conform with symbols in other mammalian species. Some characters at the end of gene symbols have special meanings, e.g. r usually means receptor , bp means binding protein , rs means related sequence , ps means pseudogene . Suffixes may be followed by a number or letter to indicate related genes. Naturally, a proposed new symbol must not duplicate one already in use for another locus. If you are uncertain about a gene symbol, contact one of the members of RGNC or one of the two rat genome databases.
Special rules apply to loci identified by certain DNA segments.
Secondly, intragenic loci may be given D-symbols. Normally, the corresponding gene symbol should be used in text even when a probe exhibiting intragenic variation has been used. Only the first letter of the laboratory code is capitalized. It is preferred that numbers be assigned to loci in the order the loci are described on each chromosome for a particular laboratory, e.g. D1Pas5 would be the fifth D-locus developed and mapped to chromosome 1 at the Pasteur Institute. The use of a number from the probe that detects the locus, e.g. D5Got48 to describe a chromosome 5 locus detected by probe pGL48 of the Gothenburg laboratory, is discouraged.