Currently (FB2014_06), the FlyBase symbols/names of the 3 D. melanogaster 'robo' genes are:
1. robo / roundabout (CG13521)
2. lea / leak (CG5481)
3. robo3 / robo3 (CG5423)
Changing to the following would be an improvement (in terms of clarity/access):
1. robo1 / roundabout 1 (CG13521)
2. robo2 / roundabout 2 (CG5481)
3. robo3 / roundabout 3 (CG5423)
The reasoning being:
- all 3 gene symbols and names would have a consistent prefix, reflecting their relatedness
- for 'lea', changing to 'robo2' would also reflect the preferred usage in the published literature
- for 'robo', adding a '1' suffix would better indicate that additional robo genes exist, it would match with 'robo2' and 'robo3', and it would more clearly distinguish this specific gene from the 'robo family'.