Fungal cell growth and metabolism regulated by the TOR signal pathway

Abstract:

Target of rapamycin (TOR) is an evolutionary conservative Ser/Thr kinase that is regarded as a key regulator in cell growth and metabolism responding to environmental stresses in eukaryotic cells. The fungal TOR signaling pathways regulate intracellular homeostasis through ribosome biogenesis, nutrient intake and C or/and N source metabolism under the stimulation of extracellular nutrition and stress. This review summarizes the fungal TOR and its structure, the regulatory mechanism and future perspectives in cell growth, autophagy, metabolism and stress physiological response under different nutritional conditions and stresses, to provide new ideas for the regulating the cell growth and metabolism through the fungal TOR pathway.

Key words:TOR;fungus;cell growth;metabolism