A Match Made in Neural Heaven: How a Neuron Grows an Axon
While the neural architecture responsible for the transmission of electrical impulses has been known for more than a century, the basic biology behind how a neuron acquires its one and only axon — a fundamental component of how neurons communicate — remains a mystery.
In a new paper, a researcher at the University of California, Riverside, and his colleagues describe the genetic switches that ignite axon formation. Their work focuses on two molecular components — polypyrimidine tract binding protein 2 (PTBP2) and the shootin gene (SHTN1).
“Neurons are so distinct from other cells in the body,” said Sika Zheng, assistant professor of biomedical sciences in the School of Medicine at the University of California, Riverside. “They are the only cells that can grow a protrusion (the axon) that can become hundreds and thousands of times longer than the cell body itself.”
