Cell length sensing for neuronal growth control

Abstract

Neurons exhibit great size differences, and must coordinate biosynthesis rates in cell bodies with the growth needs of different lengths of axons. Classically, axon growth has been viewed mainly as a consequence of extrinsic influences. However, recent publications have proposed at least two different intrinsic axon growth-control mechanisms. We suggest that these mechanisms form part of a continuum of axon growth-control mechanisms, wherein initial growth rates are pre-programmed by transcription factor levels, and subsequent elongating growth is dependent on feedback from intrinsic length-sensing enabled by bidirectional motor-dependent oscillating signals. This model might explain intrinsic limits on elongating neuronal growth and provides a mechanistic framework for determining the connections between genome expression and cellular growth rates in neurons.