Division of Biology 114-96, California Institute of Technology, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA.
Considerable evidence suggests that the formation of long-term memories requires a critical period of new protein synthesis. Recently, the notion that some of these newly synthesized proteins originate through local translation in neuronal dendrites has gained some traction. Here, we review the experimental support for this idea and highlight some of the key questions outstanding in this area.