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Autophagy
Article
Data sources: UnpayWall
Autophagy
Article . 2011 . Peer-reviewed
Data sources: Crossref
Autophagy
Article . 2011
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ULK1 inhibits mTORC1 signaling, promotes multisite Raptor phosphorylation and hinders substrate binding

Authors: David K. Hunt; Diane C. Fingar; Elaine A. Dunlop; Andrew R. Tee; Hugo A. Acosta-Jaquez;

ULK1 inhibits mTORC1 signaling, promotes multisite Raptor phosphorylation and hinders substrate binding

Abstract

Protein synthesis and autophagy work as two opposing processes to control cell growth in response to nutrient supply. The mammalian/mechanistic target of rapamycin complex 1 (mTORC1) pathway, which acts as a master regulator to control protein synthesis, has recently been shown to inhibit autophagy by phosphorylating and inactivating ULK1, an autophagy regulatory protein. ULK1 also inhibits phosphorylation of a mTORC1 substrate, S6K1, indicating that a complex signaling interplay exists between mTORC1 and ULK1. Here, we demonstrate that ULK1 induces multisite phosphorylation of Raptor in vivo and in vitro. Using phospho-specific antibodies we identify Ser855 and Ser859 as being strongly phosphorylated by ULK1, with moderate phosphorylation of Ser792 also observed. Interestingly, ULK1 overexpression also increases phosphorylation of Raptor Ser863 and the mTOR autophosphorylation site, Ser2481 in a mTORC1-dependent manner. Despite this evidence for heightened mTORC1 kinase activity following ULK1 overexpresssion, mTORC1-mediated phosphorylation of S6K1 and 4E-BP1 is significantly inhibited. ULK1 expression has no effect on protein-protein interactions between the components of mTORC1, but does reduce the ability of Raptor to bind to the substrate 4E-BP1. Furthermore, shRNA knockdown of ULK1 leads to increased phosphorylation of mTORC1 substrates and decreased phosphorylation of Raptor at Ser859 and Ser792. We propose a new mechanism whereby ULK1 contributes to mTORC1 inhibition through hindrance of substrate docking to Raptor. This is a novel negative feedback loop that occurs upon activation of autophagy to maintain mTORC1 inhibition when nutrient supplies are limiting.

Related Organizations
Keywords

TOR Serine-Threonine Kinases, Intracellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins, Proteins, Ribosomal Protein S6 Kinases, 70-kDa, Cell Cycle Proteins, Regulatory-Associated Protein of mTOR, Mechanistic Target of Rapamycin Complex 1, Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases, Phosphoproteins, Substrate Specificity, HEK293 Cells, Gene Knockdown Techniques, Multiprotein Complexes, Autophagy-Related Protein-1 Homolog, Humans, Phosphorylation, Adaptor Proteins, Signal Transducing, Signal Transduction

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    citations
    This is an alternative to the "Influence" indicator, which also reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically).
    192
    popularity
    This indicator reflects the "current" impact/attention (the "hype") of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network.
    Top 1%
    influence
    This indicator reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically).
    Top 10%
    impulse
    This indicator reflects the initial momentum of an article directly after its publication, based on the underlying citation network.
    Top 1%
Powered by OpenAIRE graph
citations
This is an alternative to the "Influence" indicator, which also reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically).
BIP!Citations provided by BIP!
popularity
This indicator reflects the "current" impact/attention (the "hype") of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network.
BIP!Popularity provided by BIP!
influence
This indicator reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically).
BIP!Influence provided by BIP!
impulse
This indicator reflects the initial momentum of an article directly after its publication, based on the underlying citation network.
BIP!Impulse provided by BIP!
192
Top 1%
Top 10%
Top 1%
bronze