The Repertoire Of RNAs In Nerve Cell Processes

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The Repertoire Of RNAs In Nerve Cell Processes

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=59483

Neurons transcribe mRNAs in their cell bodies; a small fraction of

these mRNAs then travel into dendrites where they are translated.

This local translation provides a means for neurons to quickly alter

the protein composition of synapses in response to a specific

stimulus. To identify mRNAs localized to the dendrites of

hippocampal neurons, Poon et al. grew the neurons on custom filters

with etched 3ìm pores and then mechanically separated axons,

dendrites, and glial processes from cell bodies. They identified

>100 mRNAs potentially localized to these processes by microarray

analysis. Nineteen mRNAs were picked for further study. In situ

hybridization confirmed that all 19 resided in MAP2-positive

dendrites. Interestingly, a significant fraction of these mRNAs

encoded molecules involved in translation, and several

coimmunoprecipitated with the double-stranded RNAbinding protein

Staufen, which has been implicated in RNA localization and

translational regulation.

M. Poon, Sang-Hyun Choi, A. M. son, H.

Geschwind, and Kelsey C.