II. Editorial Policy Of GENETICS

It will doubtless interest maize geneticists to know the editorial policy of GENETICS concerning the symbolizing of genes, linkage groups and chromosomes of maize. The present policy has been in use for sometime and seems to be satisfactory.

Arabic numerals are used to designate both linkage groups and chromosomes.

Literal superscripts are used to represent different members of an allelic series.

No subscripts are used to represent different genes which give similar phenotypes. The numeral shall be raised to the same level as the rest of the symbol, i.e. v3 and not v₃. The first member of such a series shall be designated only by the literal symbol without the accompanying numeral "one" e.g. bm1 and a1 shall be simply bm and a. This will prevent the confusion which would result from such symbols as a and a1 if the numeral "one" was used with a but not as a subscript.

All gene symbols are italicized but the symbols T, Df and In representing translocations, deficiencies and inversions, respectively, are not italicized.

M. M. Rhoades