MTORC1, the master regulator of autophagy

Abstract

<p indent="0mm">Protein kinase mTORC1 senses a number of intracellular and environmental cues, and targets to different substrates to participate in the regulation of various cellular processes, including cell growth, cell proliferation and cell metabolism. So far, mTORC1 has emerged as a master regulator of autophagy, an important cellular degradation pathway. Multiple proteins, functioning in different stages of autophagy, have been identified as mTORC1 substrates. All these findings demonstrate that mTORC1 signaling is involved in the regulation of many stages of autophagy, by which mTORC1 signaling seems to control the quick initiation and termination of autophagy, upon the dynamic changes of intracellular nutrient status or environmental stresses. In this paper, we review the recent studies about the role of mTORC1 signaling in the regulation of autophagy.