title: TOR Signaling and Nutrient Sensing.
abstract: All living organisms rely on nutrients to sustain cell metabolism and energy production, which in turn need to be adjusted based on available resources. The evolutionarily conserved target of rapamycin (TOR) protein kinase is a central regulatory hub that connects environmental information about the quantity and quality of nutrients to developmental and metabolic processes in order to maintain cellular homeostasis. TOR is activated by both nitrogen and carbon metabolites and promotes energy-consuming processes such as cell division, mRNA translation, and anabolism in times of abundance while repressing nutrient remobilization through autophagy. In animals and yeasts, TOR acts antagonistically to the starvation-induced AMP-activated kinase (AMPK)/sucrose nonfermenting 1 (Snf1) kinase, called Snf1-related kinase 1 (SnRK1) in plants. This review summarizes the immense knowledge on the relationship between TOR signaling and nutrients in nonphotosynthetic organisms and presents recent findings in plants that illuminate the crucial role of this pathway in conveying nutrient-derived signals and regulating many aspects of metabolism and growth.
authors.affiliation: Institut Jean-Pierre Bourgin, UMR 1318 INRA AgroParisTech, ERL CNRS 3559, Saclay Plant Sciences, Versailles 78026, France; email: cmeyer@versailles.inra.fr.|Umeå Plant Science Center, Department of Plant Physiology, Umeå University, Umeå 90187, Sweden.
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Dobrenel
authors.affiliation: Molecular Physiology of Plant Biomass Production Group, Max Planck Partner Group, Brazilian Bioethanol Science and Technology Laboratory, CEP 13083-100 Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil.
authors.forename: Camila
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Caldana
authors.affiliation: Umeå Plant Science Center, Department of Plant Physiology, Umeå University, Umeå 90187, Sweden.
authors.forename: Johannes
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hanson
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Génétique et Biophysique des Plantes, UMR 7265, DSV, IBEB, SBVME, CEA, CNRS, Aix Marseille Université, Faculté des Sciences de Luminy, Marseille 13009, France.
authors.forename: Christophe
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Robaglia
authors.affiliation: Laboratório de Genética de Plantas, Centro de Biologia Molecular e Engenharia Genética, Universidade Estadual de Campinas, CEP 13083-875 Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil.
authors.forename: Michel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Vincentz
authors.affiliation: Forage Improvement, AgResearch, Institute of Fundamental Sciences, Massey University, Palmerston North 4442, New Zealand.
authors.forename: Bruce
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Veit
authors.affiliation: Institut Jean-Pierre Bourgin, UMR 1318 INRA AgroParisTech, ERL CNRS 3559, Saclay Plant Sciences, Versailles 78026, France; email: cmeyer@versailles.inra.fr.
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Meyer
mesh_terms: D001343:Autophagy; D002244:Carbon / Q000378:metabolism*; D009584:Nitrogen / Q000378:metabolism*; D063245:Plant Development; D010944:Plants / Q000378:metabolism*; D017346:Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases / Q000378:metabolism*; D015398:Signal Transduction; D058570:TOR Serine-Threonine Kinases / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D002244:Carbon; C071570:SNF1-related protein kinases; D017346:Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases; D058570:TOR Serine-Threonine Kinases; D009584:Nitrogen
keywords: SnRK1 kinase; TOR kinase; nitrogen; nutrient signaling; sugars