Function
mTOR integrates the input from upstream pathways, including insulin, growth factors (such as IGF-1 and IGF-2), and amino acids. mTOR also senses cellular nutrient and energy levels and redox status. The mTOR pathway is dysregulated in human diseases, especially certain cancers. Rapamycin is a bacterial product that can inhibit mTOR by associating with its intracellular receptor FKBP12. The FKBP12-rapamycin complex binds directly to the FKBP12-Rapamycin Binding (FRB) domain of mTOR.
mTOR is the catalytic subunit of two molecular complexes.
mTOR stands for mammalian Target Of Rapamycin and was named based on the precedent that TOR was first discovered via genetic and molecular studies of rapamycin-resistant mutants of Saccharomyces cerevisiae that identified FKBP12, Tor1, and Tor2 as the targets of rapamycin and provided robust support that the FKBP12-rapamycin complex binds to and inhibits the cellular functions of Tor1 and Tor2.
Read more about this topic: Mammalian Target Of Rapamycin
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