TOR Signaling in Development, Metabolism, and Aging.

The arget f apamycin (TOR or mTOR) is a serine/threonine kinase that regulates growth, development, and behaviors by modulating protein synthesis, autophagy, and multiple other cellular processes in response to changes in nutrients and other cues. Over recent years, TOR has been studied intensively in mammalian cell culture and genetic systems because of its importance in growth, metabolism, cancer, and aging. Through its advantages for unbiased, and high-throughput, genetic and studies, has made major contributions to our understanding of TOR biology. Genetic analyses in the worm have revealed unexpected aspects of TOR functions and regulation, and have the potential to further expand our understanding of how growth and metabolic regulation influence development. In the aging field, has played a leading role in revealing the promise of TOR inhibition as a strategy for extending life span, and identifying mechanisms that function upstream and downstream of TOR to influence aging. Here, we review the state of the TOR field in , and focus on what we have learned about its functions in development, metabolism, and aging. We discuss knowledge gaps, including the potential pitfalls in translating findings back and forth across organisms, but also describe how TOR is important for biology, and how work has developed paradigms of great importance for the broader TOR field.