1362-Cytoskeletal Oscillator Establishes Neuronal Polarity

Paper Talk · Jul 31, 2026 · 19m

These scientific excerpts detail the discovery of a soma-driven oscillatory program that governs how neurons establish polarity by selecting a single axon. Research demonstrates that neuronal asymmetry is not dictated solely by external cues, but rather by an internal "activator-inhibitor" system involving the ARP2/3 complex and actomyosin. Periodic actin waves originating at the cell body cause alternating phases of neurite retraction and extension, eventually biasing a single neurite toward becoming the axon. Once a neurite transitions into an axon, it stabilizes through microtubule-based…