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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2012 Aug 1.
Published in final edited form as: Curr Opin Genet Dev. 2011 Apr 27;21(4):414–421. doi: 10.1016/j.gde.2011.04.002

Figure 1. Balancing activity-induced dendrite morphogenesis through local mRNA regulation.

Figure 1

The local translation of Pum2 and eIF4E balance protein synthesis and regulate dendrite and spine morphogenesis. At low activity, Pum2 represses the translation of eIF4E, thus keeping protein synthesis rates low and limiting morphogenesis and synapse formation. High neural activity induces the transcription of miR-134; this leads to repression of Pum2 translation, increased translation of eIF4E, and dendrite morphogenesis. During development, this pathway likely maintains a basal level of activation that is a by increases and decreases in synapse activity.