1. Use italics for:
- Scientific names of bacteria and protozoa
- Genera, species, and subspecific taxa
- In chemical names, p, o, m, n, cis, sec, sic, trans, syn
- Genes, genotypes, loci, markers, mutants, alleles, operons
- Mathematical variables
2. Do not use italics for:
- Emphasis
- Common foreign words such as ad hoc, a priori, in vivo, in vitro
- Abbreviations such as sp. spp., var.
- Names of taxa of rank higher than genus
- Generic names used as adjectives
- Names of microorganisms used colloquially (e.g., actinomycetes)
- Strain designations
- Names of cells, phages, hosts, phenotypes
- R, X, M, B, A, etc. in formulas and equations where they represent chemical elements or groups
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