Photosynthetic assimilation of CO regulates TOR activity.

The target of rapamycin (TOR) kinase is a master regulator that integrates nutrient signals to promote cell growth in all eukaryotes. It is well established that amino acids and glucose are major regulators of TOR signaling in yeast and metazoan, but whether and how TOR responds to carbon availability in photosynthetic organisms is less understood. In this study, we showed that photosynthetic assimilation of CO by the Calvin-Benson-Bassham (CBB) cycle regulates TOR activity in the model single-celled microalga Stimulation of CO fixation boosted TOR activity, whereas inhibition of the CBB cycle and photosynthesis down-regulated TOR. We uncovered a tight link between TOR activity and the endogenous level of a set of amino acids including Ala, Glu, Gln, Leu, and Val through the modulation of CO fixation and the use of amino acid synthesis inhibitors. Moreover, the finding that the starch-deficient mutant displayed disproportionate TOR activity and high levels of most amino acids, particularly Gln, further connected carbon assimilation and amino acids to TOR signaling. Thus, our results showed that CO fixation regulates TOR signaling, likely through the synthesis of key amino acids.