The increasingly frequent use of the term recombinant DNA in the scientific literature has led to the appearance of the abbreviation rDNA to denote both the technology itself and the DNA molecules that result from it. However, the same abbreviation was preempted some time ago to refer to ribosomal DNA, the genes coding for ribosomal RNA. Because rRNA is already a widely used biochemical abbreviation, it is a natural extension to designate rDNA for ribosomal DNA. Thus we would discourage the use of rDNA to refer to recombinant DNA. While alternative abbreviations for recombinant DNA have been suggested [1], it hardly seems necessary to have any standard abbreviation for such a broad class of techniques and molecules.
1. King, R. C. (1986) Nature (Lond.) 322, 780.
2.IUPAC-IUB Joint Commission on Biochemical Nomenclature (JCBN), and Nomenclature Commission of IUB (NC-IUB), Newsletter 1988, Arch. Biochem. Biophys., 1988, 260, 851-854; Biochem. Internat., 1988, 16, following p 192; Bioch. J., 1988, 249, I-III; Biol. Chem. Hoppe-Seyler, 1988, 369, 1-4; Eur. J. Biochem., 1987, 170, 7-9.