Final Report Summary - TOR-AA (Amino acid sensing by TOR)
TORC1 is an important regulator of cellular growth. It promotes growth by regulating numerous anabolic pathways including translation – ie protein biosynthesis. Since it promotes translation, TORC1 needs to sense the presence of amino acids in order to couple protein biosynthesis with availability of the required building blocks. The overall goal of this project was to study this process whereby amino acids regulate TORC1, which regulates translation. As a result of this project, we discovered new molecular mechanisms by which TORC1 is inhibited upon amino acid removal. We performed a genome-wide RNAi screen to look for genes required for TORC1 to be inactivated upon amino acid removal, and identified and characterized a translation factor that has a ‘moonlighting’ function as a TORC1 regulator. We also discovered new effector mechanisms by which TORC1 regulates cell and animal physiology.