Capitalization of biological abbreviations at the beginning of a sentence

In the beginning of a sentence, should I capitalize abbreviations such as the following:

• hPSC (human pluripotent stem cell)
• mESC (mouse embryonic stem cell)
• rDNA (recombinant deoxyribonucleic acid)

I have seen both lower and upper case for the two first, while rDNA always seems to be in lower case. I'm curious which is the linguistically correct form.

Solution 1:

Whenever you encounter a situation where a "rule" (such as begin a sentence with an upper case letter) will reduce the readability of your test (Is MESC the same as mESC?) then rewrite. Do not try to find a loophole or a special rule that will need to be explained or justified. The meaning of your text is paramount.

There is a reason why chemistry texts do not begin a sentence about acids and bases with pH.

Solution 2:

According to Scientific Style and Format: The CBE Manual for Authors, Editors, and Publishers (C B E Style Manual),

Even if the editor chooses a style that calls for initial capitalization of every term, some terms should retain an initial lowercase letter. [...] 3 A standard symbol or abbreviation that begins with a lowercase letter (pH, pK', mRNA).

Also, according to apsstylemanual.org,

An abbreviation that begins with a lowercase letter, or a term that must remain lowercase should not be changed to all caps when it begins a sentence; it should not be expanded. The word following should be is lowercase unless it is a proper noun or another acronym. If possible, reword the sentence so that it does not begin with the lowercase term

I don't see anything (other than the one regarding brand names) in the Chicago Manual of Style.