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At-a-glance style guide

Refer to the Guidelines for Authors for details of how to submit papers

Abbreviations: to be listed on title page, and to be defined at first mention in both Summary and main text.

The following need not be defined:
aa; ACES; ADA; ADP, cAMP, ATP, etc.; AIDS; BES; Bicine; bp; BSA; CAPS; c.f.u.; CHAPS; CHES; CIE; CM-cellulose; CoA; c.p.m.; Da; DEAE-cellulose; DIG; DMSO; DNA, cDNA, CCC DNA, dsDNA, rDNA, ssDNA, DNase; DNP; d.p.m., d.p.s.; DTT; ED₅₀; EDTA, EGTA; ELISA; EMS; e.o.p.; EPR or ESR; FITC; FPLC; GC or GLC; GSH, GSSG; HEPES; HEPPS; HPLC; i.d.; IEF; IgG, IgM, etc.; IPTG; IR; kb, kbp; LD₅₀; LPS; LSU; mAb; MES; MIC; m.o.i.; MOPS; MS; NAD, NADP; NMR; nt; NTG; ONPG; ORF; PAGE; PBS; PCR; PEG; PFGE; p.f.u.; P_i, PP_i; PIPES; PMSF; ppGpp, pppGpp; p.p.m.; p.s.i.; PVDF; Py-GC, Py-MS; RBS; RFLP; RNA, mRNA, rRNA, tRNA, RNase; r.p.m.; RT-PCR; SDS, SDS-PAGE; SSU; TCA; TES; TLC; Tricine, Tris; UPGMA; UV; X-Gal.

Compound units: µg ml^-1 not µg/ml; 10 µg ampicillin ml^-1 not 10 µg ml^-1 ampicillin.

Concentration: given in g l^-1, etc., or molarity, M, not normality, N. The term '%' should be defined as 'w/v', 'v/v' or 'w/w' if this is necessary to avoid ambiguity.

Figures: refer to in text as Fig. 1(a) not FIG 1A, Figure 1(A), etc.; or as (Fig. 1a) not (Figure 1A). Multipart figures should be labelled (a), (b), etc., not A, (A) or B, (B).

Genes and genotypes: use (for bacteria) e.g. gyrA not gyrA; arg-1 not arg1 or arg1, etc.

Molecular mass in Da, e.g. 31 500 Da or 31·5 kDa; or relative molecular mass, M_r, without units, e.g. M_r 31 500, not molecular weight. In table headings and figure axes, for values > 1000 use kDa or 10^-3×M_r.

Pressure: Pa preferred; if given in p.s.i., equivalent in Pa must be given (1 p.s.i. = 6·9 kPa).

Radioactivity: Bq preferred; if given in Ci, equivalent in Bq must be given (1 Ci = 3·7×10¹⁰ Bq); may also be expressed as d.p.s. (1 d.p.s. = 1 Bq) or as c.p.m.

References: In the text: note '&' not 'and', e.g. Pasta & Sicard (1996) not Pasta and Sicard (1996), or (Pasta & Sicard, 1996) not (Pasta and Sicard, 1996); note italic 'et al.' with three or more authors, e.g. Cerdà-Cuéllar et al. (1997) or (Cerdà-Cuéllar et al., 1997).

In the list: note space between authors' initials; abbreviated journal titles in italics without full stops (one-word titles in full); initials after surnames; date in parentheses; use of bold for vol. no., and comma not colon after vol. no.; book publisher's city or town and state, followed by name.

Sample journal references:

Cerdà-Cuéllar, M., Rosselló-Mora, R. A., Lalucat, J., Jofre, J. & Blanch, A. (1997). Vibrio scophthalmi sp. nov., a new species from turbot (Scophthalmus maximus). Int J Syst Bacteriol 47, 58–61.

Pasta, F. & Sicard, M. A. (1996). Exclusion of long heterologous insertions and deletions from the pairing synapsis in pneumococcal transformation. Microbiology 142, 695–705.

Sample reference to a Validation List:

Stanley, J., Linton, D., Burnens, A. P., Dewhirst, F. E., Owen, R. J., Porter, A., On, S. L. W. & Costas, M. (1994). Helicobacter canis sp. nov. In Validation of the Publication of New Names and New Combinations Previously Effectively Published Outside the IJSB, List no. 49. Int J Syst Bacteriol 44, 370–371.

Sample journal reference for 10 or more authors:

Tomb, J.-F., White, O., Kerlavage, A. R. & 39 other authors (1997). The complete genome sequence of the gastric pathogen Helicobacter pylori. Nature 388, 539–547.

Sample reference to a whole book:

Sambrook, J., Fritsch, E. F. & Maniatis, T. (1989). Molecular Cloning: a Laboratory Manual, 2nd edn. Cold Spring Harbor, NY: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.

Sample reference to a book chapter or section:

Romano, A. H. & Saier, M. H., Jr (1992). Evolution of the bacterial phosphoenolpyruvate:sugar phosphotransferase system. I. Physiological and organismic considerations. In The Evolution of Metabolic Function, pp. 171–204. Edited by R. P. Mortlock. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press.

Restriction enzymes: e.g. EcoRI not EcoRI, etc.; HindIII not HindIII, HindIII, Hind III, etc.

Spectrophotometry: Absorbance, A, absorption of monochromatic light; for clear solutions or for absorbing molecules in turbid suspensions. Optical density, OD, for non-monochromatic light or for turbid suspensions (attenuance, D, may also be used). Wavelength and instrument must be stated.

Suppliers: name of company without Ltd, Co., Corp., etc.; no address.

Table footnote symbols: * † ‡ § || ¶ in that order from left to right and top to bottom.

Units: note space between number and unit, e.g. 5·4 kb not 5·4kb; 37 °C not 37°C; 10 000 g not 10 000g.