Amino acid-insensitive mTORC1 regulation enables nutritional stress resilience in hematopoietic stem cells.
The mTOR pathway is a critical determinant of cell persistence and growth wherein mTOR complex 1 (mTORC1) mediates a balance between growth factor stimuli and nutrient availability. Amino acids or glucose facilitates mTORC1 activation by inducing RagA GTPase recruitment of mTORC1 to the lysosomal outer surface, enabling activation of mTOR by the Ras homolog Rheb. Thereby, RagA alters mTORC1-driven growth in times of nutrient abundance or scarcity. Here, we have evaluated differential nutrient-sensing dependence through RagA and mTORC1 in hematopoietic progenitors, which dynamically drive mature cell production, and hematopoietic stem cells (HSC), which provide a quiescent cellular reserve. In nutrient-abundant conditions, RagA-deficient HSC were functionally unimpaired and upregulated mTORC1 via nutrient-insensitive mechanisms. RagA was also dispensable for HSC function under nutritional stress conditions. Similarly, hyperactivation of RagA did not affect HSC function. In contrast, RagA deficiency markedly altered progenitor population function and mature cell output. Therefore, RagA is a molecular mechanism that distinguishes the functional attributes of reactive progenitors from a reserve stem cell pool. The indifference of HSC to nutrient sensing through RagA contributes to their molecular resilience to nutritional stress, a characteristic that is relevant to organismal viability in evolution and in modern HSC transplantation approaches.
Demetrios
D
Kalaitzidis
Dongjun
D
Lee
Alejo
A
Efeyan
Youmna
Y
Kfoury
Naema
N
Nayyar
David B
DB
Sykes
Francois E
FE
Mercier
Ani
A
Papazian
Ninib
N
Baryawno
Gabriel D
GD
Victora
Donna
D
Neuberg
David M
DM
Sabatini
David T
DT
Scadden
D000222:Adaptation, Physiological; D000596:Amino Acids / Q000502:physiology; D000818:Animals; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D006412:Hematopoietic Stem Cells / Q000502:physiology*; D006706:Homeostasis; D000076222:Mechanistic Target of Rapamycin Complex 1; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D008822:Mice, Transgenic; D020559:Monomeric GTP-Binding Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D046912:Multiprotein Complexes / Q000378:metabolism*; D013312:Stress, Physiological; D058570:TOR Serine-Threonine Kinases / Q000378:metabolism*
D000596:Amino Acids; D000076222:Mechanistic Target of Rapamycin Complex 1; D020559:Monomeric GTP-Binding Proteins; D046912:Multiprotein Complexes; D058570:TOR Serine-Threonine Kinases; C000589375:Rraga protein, Mouse