The sound of an axon's growth

Abstract

Axons are linear processes of nerve cells that can range from a few tens of micrometers up to meters in length. In addition to external cues, the length of an axon is also regulated by unknown internal mechanisms. Molecular motors have been suggested to generate oscillations with an axon length-dependent frequency that could be used to measure an axon's extension. Here, we present a mechanism that depends on the spectral decomposition of the oscillatory signal to determine the axon length.