mTOR signaling and autophagy regulation

The mechanistic target of rapamycin (mTOR) pathway integrates a range of cellular and environmental signals for the growth and development of eukaryotic cells. For over two and half decades, studying mTOR signaling has revealed it as a central regulator of diverse anabolic and catabolic pathways, including biogenesis, metabolism, and autophagy. mTOR inhibition induces autophagy for the recycling of cellular components to counteract cellular stress. The mTOR kinase blocks autophagy, including direct inhibition of the ULK1 complex and the control of lysosomal biogenesis and degradative ability. Although the physiological function is incompletely understood, the complex molecular connection and crosstalk between the mTOR pathway and autophagy are significantly documented at the cellular level to develop novel therapeutics to control different metabolic diseases. This chapter highlights an overview of mTOR structure and signaling pathway in autophagy regulation and focuses on different mTOR modulators to regulate autophagy signaling.