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Control of cell growth: Rag GTPases in activation of TORC1

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An Erratum to this article was published on 01 February 2013

Abstract

The target of rapamycin (TOR) is a central regulator controlling cell growth. TOR is highly conserved from yeast to mammals, and is deregulated in human cancers and diabetes. TOR complex 1 (TORC1) integrates signals from growth factors, cellular energy status, stress, and amino acids to control cell growth, mitochondrial metabolism, and lipid biosynthesis. The mechanisms of growth factors and cellular energy status in regulating TORC1 have been well established, whereas the mechanism by which amino acid induces TORC1 remains largely unknown. Recent studies revealed that Rag GTPases play a central role in the regulation of TORC1 activation in response to amino acids. In this review, we will discuss the recent progress in our understanding of Rag GTPase-regulated TORC1 activation in response to amino acids. Particular focus will be given to the function of Rag GTPases in TORC1 activation and how Rag GTPases are regulated by amino acids.

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Acknowledgments

We apologize to those authors whose excellent work we did not reference directly in this review due to the limit of text space. We thank Professor Kun-liang Guan and Dr. Ryan C. Russell at UCSD for critical reading of the manuscript. This work was supported by grants from National Basic Research Program of China (2011CB918600, 2009CB918600) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31030019, 11079016, 30870493).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Cancer Institute, Shanghai Cancer Center, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200032, People’s Republic of China

    Huirong Yang, Rui Gong & Yanhui Xu

  2. Department of Oncology, Shanghai Medical College, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200032, People’s Republic of China

    Huirong Yang, Rui Gong & Yanhui Xu

  3. Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Fudan University, 130 Dong-An Road, Shanghai, 200032, People’s Republic of China

    Huirong Yang, Rui Gong & Yanhui Xu

  4. State Key Laboratory of Genetic Engineering, School of Life Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200433, People’s Republic of China

    Yanhui Xu

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  1. Huirong Yang
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Correspondence to Yanhui Xu.

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H. Yang and R. Gong contributed equally to this work.

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Yang, H., Gong, R. & Xu, Y. Control of cell growth: Rag GTPases in activation of TORC1. Cell. Mol. Life Sci. 70, 2873–2885 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00018-012-1195-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00018-012-1195-y

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