Pictocon
for genetics, molecular biology, and biochemistry
The concept reperesented here by the term "pictocon", created for this purpose, is that diagrams and graphics used in research and educational materials in biology contain individual pictorial elements to which have been assigned known conventional meanings. These picture elements are widely used to imply the concepts with which they are associated, and often no explanation of the element occurs in the graphic, image, or figure. Students new to the field must learn the "language" of these picture elements just as they must learn the word language (jargon) specific to the field of study. The picture elements form a pictorial jargon for diagrams in biology. This pictocon is intended to serve in the role for diagramatic elements that dictionaries (lexicons) serve for words used in discipline-specific language.
 
To use this pictocon: Click on the thumbnail image in the left column of the table that contains one or more picture elements that you want to know the common technical meaning of, when it is used in diagrams in genetics, molecular biology, or biochemistry. The thumbnail links to a page that is a more detailed table of contents arranged similarly, for various examples of that type of picture element. The links in these subsidiary tables of contents lead to individual pages giving the name of the concept represented by a picture element, explanations of the concepts, examples of use of that element, and explanations of the examples. Picture elements chosen for inclusion are those that appear often in undergraduate textbbooks on genetics, molecular biology, and biochemistry.
 
The concept of the reference work here named Pictocon, the use of the word pictocon
to refer to such a reference, and the specific pictocon found on this web site,
are © Susan Godfrey, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Pittsburgh 6.8.02

Table of Contents
Picture elements
 Name of type of graphic element, common variations
 
lines 		Lines: straight, curved, or wavy; single, double, or dashed
 
arrows 		Arrows: straight, curved; single, double, or dashed line; single arrowhead, double arrowhead; arrows in pairs
 
boxes 		Boxes: empty or filled rectangles; square or rounded corners
 
triangles 		Triangles: empty or filled; single or multiple
 
ovals 		Ovals: ovals or circles; empty or filled; single or multiple; variable size
 
polygons 		Polygons: pentagons, & hexagons
 
stem/loop 		Stem & loop: with and without associated runs of sequence, related conventions for folded nucleic acid structures
 
XXXX 		XXX: diagrammatic uses of the letter X, and the symbol +
 
diagram 		Expansions: diagrammatic indications that an area of a picture is being enlarged (blown up), or that an insertion or deletion is made in a DNA sequence
 
SeqSim 		Diagrammatic methods of indicating DNA sequence similarity
 
SD, lacZ
 
Some acronyms and gene-naming conventions used in labelingfor genetic and physical maps of DNA