Proposed model of miRNA-mediated regulation of basal and cue-induced translation. (1) Specific miRNAs keep a subset of mRNAs in an untranslated state, but upon stimulation, the miRNA-mediated silencing is relieved, and this induces a burst of mRNA translation. (2) Inactive pre-miRNAs are transported and stored within the axonal compartment (left), and upon cue exposure (right), distinct pre-miRNAs are locally processed and the associated newly generated miRNAs (NG-miRNAs) inhibit the basal translation of given transcripts. Regardless of the stimulus status, (3) specific transcripts undergo basal translation and (4) others are maintained in an untranslated silent state.