The cytoskeleton provides cells with their characteristic shapes and forms, as the bones in the human body do. In addition, one of the major jobs of the cytoskeleton is to provide a highway system to transport cellular components to different locations and compartments within the cell. Researchers have recently discovered that mRNA molecules appear to be among the cellular components that are transported by the cytoskeleton. Our current work has focused on investigating how mRNA is attached to the cytoskeleton, what regions of the mRNA are important for this attachment, and what proteins mediate the interaction. The cytosome may create an RNA-protein scaffold important in the transport of mRNAs and in the regulation of protein synthesis.
Neurons are but one kind of cell that can benefit from making proteins locally.
In addition, having the template at the site of need, prepared for producing proteins in direct response to local incoming signals, bypasses the problem of long-distance relay of signals and proteins throughout the cell. We have come to understand the tissues of higher organisms as collections of cells whose individual behavior determines the maintenance and regulation of the tissues' varied functions. But just as a tissue is composed of multiple cells, cells are composed of multiple compartments. Thus the neuron can be viewed as an empire of numerous domains, whose independent function may ultimately determine how higher brain processes such as learning and memory occur. Dr. DeFranco is an instructor and Dr. Chicurel is a postdoctoral fellow working with Dr. Huntington Potter in the Department of Neurobiology at Harvard Medical School.