Neuronal Growth Control Mechanisms – Looking Within

The presentation will describe how neurons monitor axon length and control axon growth via a bidirectional mechanism consisting of anterograde RNA transport, local translation at axon tips, and retrograde transport of the resulting proteins. Recent findings suggest that microtubule motor-dependent RNA localization and local protein synthesis enable cytoskeleton length sensing for size sensing and growth regulation in other eukaryotic cell types as well as neurons. The mechanism provides a one-dimensional solution for the three-dimensional challenge of sensing cell size, with implications for developmental, regenerative and aberrant cell growth.