Oliver's mTOR Atlas Evidence Platform
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Pathway link AMPK-MITOPHAGY

AMPK Mitophagy

AMPK activates Mitophagy.

The cell's energy sensor can help clear out damaged mitochondria, partly by switching on an autophagy starter kinase. How much it matters depends on the cell and on the kind of stress.

AMPK can promote the clearance of damaged mitochondria, in part by phosphorylating ULK1: cells whose ULK1 cannot be phosphorylated by AMPK show defective mitophagy under starvation. How much AMPK contributes depends on the cell type and on the kind of energy stress.

The conditions it holds under

Two studies of different kinds: EGA2010 (cells and C. elegans, AMPK-site mutant of ULK1) and ZHU2026 (mouse toxicology model, where LKB1/AMPK loss also went with mitochondrial DNA leakage and liver inflammation; that downstream link is shown only there). The upstream step is disputed: Park, Lee and Kim (Nat Commun 2023, PMID 37225695, outside this corpus) report that under energy stress AMPK restrains ULK1 activation; see AMPK-ULK1.

Time it takes
hours
Step
indirect (through steps not drawn here)
Measured in
mammalian cells, C. elegans, mouse
Where in the cell
mitochondrion
Reaches people?
plausible in people, not shown directly
How settled
emerging, few independent studies

Studies behind it

YearEvidenceStudy
2010 M Phosphorylation of ULK1 (hATG1) by AMP-activated protein kinase connects energy sensing to mitophagyEGA2010 AMPK directly phosphorylates ULK1 to connect energy sensing to autophagy/mitophagy, opposing mTOR.
2026 A LKB1/AMPK deficiency aggravates mitochondrial DNA leakage via mTOR-dependent mitophagy damage in liver injury sensitized by trichloroethylene.ZHU2026 LKB1/AMPK deficiency exacerbates trichloroethylene-induced liver injury by impairing mTOR-regulated mitophagy and causing mitochondrial DNA leakage; rapamycin and AMPK activation are protective, nominating the LKB1/AMPK/mTOR axis as a candidate therapeutic target in mice; no human data.

Points the other way

No study in the Atlas contradicts this link. That means none in this curated set, not none in the literature.

Who has checked this

Checked by
No researcher outside the project has checked this link yet.
Curator sign-off
Not signed off yet. This link was drafted with AI help and has not been reviewed link by link; treat it as a proposal until it is.
Curated by
Oliver Barton, with AI help for drafting; see how links are checked.

“How settled” describes how far researchers in the field agree. It is not the same as the sign-off above, which only says whether a named curator has checked this page.

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