Common Abbreviations and Acronyms
These common abbreviations can be used in abstracts without explicitly defining them.
For less-common abbreviations, spell the phrase in full the first time it appears, followed
by the abbreviation in parentheses. For example:
“Cleavage of genomic DNA at unintended positions—so-called ‘off-target cleavage’
(OTC)—hampers the use of engineered nucleases (EN) for gene therapy. We describe
an assay to measure the extent of OTC by a variety of ENs…”
aa
amino acid
In the context of protein:
A
Ala; alanine
C
Cys; cysteine
D
Asp; aspartic acid (aspartate)
E
Glu; glutamic acid (glutamate)
F
Phe; phenylalanine
G
Gly; glycine
H
His; histidine
I
Ile; isoleucine
K
Lys; lysine
L
Leu; leucine
M
Met; methionine
N
Asn; asparagine
P
Pro; proline
Q
Gln; glutamine
R
Arg; arginine
S
Ser; serine
T
Thr; threonine
V
Val; valine
W
Trp; tryptophan
X
any amino acid
Y
Tyr; tyrosine
AdoMet (or SAM)
EtBr
ELISA
EMSA
GST
IVC
PCR
SDS
PAGE
SDA
RCA
SELEX
SMRT®
DNA
RNA
oligo
bp
S-adenosylmethionine
ethidium bromide
enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay
electrophoretic mobility-shift assay
Glutathione S-transferase
in vitro compartmentalization
polymerase chain reaction
sodium dodecyl sulfate
polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis
strand-displacement amplification
rolling-circle amplification
systematic evolution of ligands by exponential enrichment
single-molecule, real-time (sequencing)
deoxyribonucleic acid
ribonucleic acid
oligonucleotide
base pair
nt
ds
ss
nucleotide
double-stranded
single-stranded
In the context of DNA or RNA:
A
adenine
G
guanine
C
cytosine
T
thymine
U
uracil
Y
C or T (pyrimidine)
R
A or G (purine)
S
C or G (strong H-bonds)
W
A or T (weak H-bonds)
M
A or C (commonly modified bases)
K
G or T (not commonly modified)
H
A, C, or T (not G)
B
C, G, or T (not A)
V
A, C, or G (not T)
D
A, G, or T (not C)
N
A, C, G, or T (any base)
m or me
5mC
4mC
6mA
5hmC (or hmC)
5fC
5CaC
5hmU (or hmU)
methyl
5-methylcytosine
N4-metyhylcytosine
N6-methyladenine
5-hydroxymethylcytosine
5-formylcytosine
5-carboxycytosine
5-hydroxymethyl uracil
R
M
S
R-M
C
V (or Vsr)
ENase
MTase
Dnmt
NEase
REase
CD
DBD
MBD
TRD
TET
restriction
modification
specificity
restriction-modification (system)
control protein
very short-patch repair: T:G and U:G mismatch endonuclease
restriction enzyme, or restriction endonuclease
modification enzyme; prokaryotic DNA-methyltransferase
eukaryotic DNA-methyltransferase
DNA-nicking endonuclease
restriction endonuclease
catalytic domain
DNA-binding domain
methyl-binding domain
target recognition domain
ten-eleven translocase
GT
HR
gene-targeting
homologous recombiunation
NHEJ
HDR
DSB
non-homologous end-joining
homology-directed repair
double-strand break
HEase
ZF
ZFN
TALE
TALEN
RVD
RGN
CRISPR
Cas9
dCas9
crRNA
PAM
sgRNA
tracrRNA
homing endonuclease
zinc-finger protein
engineered zinc-finger nuclease
transcription activator-like effector protein (from Xanthomonas)
engineered TALE nuclease
repeat-variable di-residue
RNA-guided nuclease
clustered, regularly interspaced, short palindromic repeats
CRISPR-associated nuclease (from Streptococcus pyogenes)
catalytically defective (inactive) Cas9 variant
CRISPR RNA
protospacer-adjacent motif
single-guide RNA
trans-acting crRNA