ROBO1

Bilateral symmetric nervous systems have special midline structures that establish a partition between the two mirror image halves. Some axons project toward and across the midline in response to long-range chemoattractants emanating from the midline. The protein encoded by ROBO1 is structurally similar to a Drosophila integral membrane protein which is encoded by the Drosophila roundabout gene (a member of the immunoglobulin gene superfamily) and is both an axon guidance receptor and a cell adhesion receptor, known to be involved in the decision by axons to cross the central nervous system midline. Two transcript variants encoding different isoforms have been found for ROBO1.

ROBO1 was implicated in a communication disorder based on a Finnish pedigree with severe dyslexia. Analyses revealed a translocation had occurred disrupting ROBO1. Study of the phonological memory component of the language acquisition system suggests that ROBO1 polymorphisms are associated with functioning in this system. The gene is thought to be related to the brain's ability to represent quantities, and is correlated with better math scores of young children in one limited study.