mTORC1通路中氨基酸信号转导相关机制研究进展

雷帕霉素靶点蛋白（target of rapamycin,TOR）作为细胞内重要的生长和代谢调节中枢,主要通过形成两种复合物TORC1与TORC2发挥其功能。其中TORC1接收广泛的细胞内信号,如氨基酸水平、生长因子、能量以及缺氧状态等,通过调控蛋白质合成来促进细胞的增殖与生长。在这些信号当中,氨基酸不仅能够激活TORC1通路,还同时作为其他信号激活TORC1的必需条件。目前,对于生长因子和能量水平激活TORC1过程的分子机制已有较深入的认识,而对于氨基酸信号如何转导至TORC1的分子机制直到近年来才有了新的突破。该文通过梳理已发表的哺乳动物细胞中氨基酸信号调控mTORC1分子机制的相关实验结论,对该领域的研究方向进行了总结和展望。

Advances in the Mechanisms of Amino Acid Signaling in mTORC1 Pathway

The target of rapamycin, TOR, serves as a central hub for regulation of cell growth and metabolism. it forms two distinct structural complexes, TORC 1 and TORC2, which play different roles in cells. TORC 1 senses a wide range of cellular signals, from amino acids, growth factors, energy status to hypoxia, and regulates cell growth and proliferation via controlling protein synthesis. Among those signals, amino acids can not only activate TORC 1 potently, but also serves as prerequisite for activation of TORC 1 by other stimuli. Research took in the past decade had provided us much insight into the mechanism of how growth factors and energy status control TORC1 activity, but how cellular amino acids regulate the pathway remained mysterious until publication of several papers recently. In this review, we are going to present and summarize the results and conclusions from recent works on amino acid signaling in mTORC1 pathway, with the expectation of figuring out directions for future study.