Neuron 61, 57–79 (2009)

To adjust its behaviour to suit ever-changing environments, an animal's sensory neurons must not only be able to respond to a change — such as a new smell — but also to gauge when the novelty has worn off, and the response is no longer appropriate.

The olfactory neurons of the tiny worm Caenorhabditis elegans achieve this by synthesising a key adaptation protein at just the right place and time: in the neuron's sensory cilia when the odour is first encountered.

Noelle L'Etoile from the University of California, Davis, and her colleagues have now shown that this synthesis is increased by RNA-binding proteins known as PUF — which is surprising because PUF proteins suppress protein synthesis during the adaptation of neurons that occurs in the course of development.