Protein Synthesis in Neurons

An individual neuron in the brain possesses approximately 10,000 synapses, many of which are hundreds of microns away from the cell body. Synapses can process independent streams of information. During synaptic transmission and plasticity, remodeling of the local proteome occurs via the regulated synthesis and degradation of new proteins. I will discuss previous and current studies aimed at understanding how localized mRNAs and protein synthesis contributes to synaptic function and plasticity.