mTOR's role in ageing: protein synthesis or autophagy?

Sarah L. Hands¹, Christopher G. Proud², Andreas Wyttenbach¹

¹School of Biological Sciences, University of Southampton, Southampton, Boldrewood Campus, Basset Crescent East, SO16 7PX, UK
²School of Biological Sciences, Human Genetics Division, University of Southampton, Duthie Building, Southampton General Hospital, Southampton SO16 6YD, UK

Received: May 27, 2009Accepted: July 18, 2009Published: July 20, 2009

Copyright: © 2009 Hands et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Abstract

The molecular and cellular mechanisms that regulate ageing are currently under scrutiny because ageing is linked to many human diseases. The nutrient sensing TOR pathway is emerging as a key regulator of ageing. TOR signaling is complex affecting several crucial cellular functions and two such functions, which show clear effects on ageing, are protein synthesis and autophagy. In this article we discuss the relative importance of both these processes in ageing, identify how TOR regulates translation and autophagy and speculate on links between the TOR signaling network and ageing pathways.