DZNE researchers have uncovered a mechanism that determines why a neuron usually forms a single, long extension called “axon” – a phenomenon that is fundamental to how our brain functions. Contrary to the common view that external cues drive axon formation, the team of scientists comes to the conclusion that its growth originates primarily inside the cell. Their work, based on cell cultures and published in the journal “Nature” with collaborators from other institutions in Germany, Austria, and Japan, reveals how a neuron’s structure is remodeled to generate the axon.