What is the protein symbol?
Sarah Garza
Updated on May 15, 2026
A protein symbol is most commonly used in prokaryote protein names in combination with a functional protein name. The first letter of a protein symbol is capitalized for prokaryotes e.g. RecA. In rare occurrences when there is no functional protein name, the format "protein <PS>" may be used, not "<PS> protein".
How do you write genes or proteins?
In general, symbols for genes are italicized (e.g., IGF1), whereas symbols for proteins are not italicized (e.g., IGF1). The formatting of symbols for RNA and complementary DNA (cDNA) usually follows the same conventions as those for gene symbols.How do you name a protein?
General rules:
- Full gene names are italicized, all lower case, NEVER use Greek symbols. eg: cyclops (in italics)
- Gene symbols are italicized, all lower case. eg: cyc (in italics)
- Protein designations are the same as the gene symbol, but first letter only upper case and not italicized. eg: Cyc.