Endogenous metabolite directly inhibits mTORC1 activity

Cells use a variety of metabolic pathways to synthesise the building blocks for growth and proliferation. To ensure balanced growth, these biosynthetic processes must be tightly coordinated. Researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Biology of Ageing, together with a team of national and international collaborators, have now identified a molecular machinery that senses the ability of a cell to make lipids to then block or activate all other biosynthetic processes, such as protein synthesis, accordingly.