Oliver's mTOR Atlas Evidence Platform
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SAMTOR is an S-adenosylmethionine sensor for the mTORC1 pathway

Gu X, Orozco JM, Saxton RA, Condon KJ, Liu GY, Krawczyk PA, Scaria SM, Harper JW, Gygi SP, Sabatini DM · 2017 · Science · Atlas ID GU2017

What this study shows

Extended nutrient sensing beyond amino acids to METABOLITES: SAMTOR reads S-adenosylmethionine (SAM), the cell's methyl-donor currency, linking methionine and one-carbon metabolism to mTORC1. Relevant to why methionine restriction affects aging.

Abstract

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mTOR complex 1 (mTORC1) regulates cell growth and metabolism in response to multiple environmental cues. Nutrients signal via the Rag guanosine triphosphatases (GTPases) to promote the localization of mTORC1 to the lysosomal surface, its site of activation. We identified SAMTOR, a previously uncharacterized protein, which inhibits mTORC1 signaling by interacting with GATOR1, the GTPase activating protein (GAP) for RagA/B. We found that the methyl donor-adenosylmethionine (SAM) disrupts the SAMTOR-GATOR1 complex by binding directly to SAMTOR with a dissociation constant of approximately 7 μM.

Read the full abstract on PubMed →

At a glance

Evidence type M Molecular — cells, biochemistry, structure Marked M because it is molecular or in-vitro work (model: Human cells (biochemistry)) rather than a whole-organism health-outcome study. That is often exactly where causal biology gets established -- the code says which system the finding was shown in, and nothing about how good the work is.
Study type5 - Mechanistic / In Vitro
Model systemHuman cells (biochemistry)
JournalScience
Year2017
Peer reviewedYes
Record last updated2026-10-01
SourceDOI 10.1126/science.aao3265 · PMID 29123071 · Free full text (PMC5747364)

Extracted findings

These fields were extracted from the paper with AI assistance and have not been checked against the source. Read them as a pointer into the paper, not as curated claims; where they disagree with the curated summary above, the curated summary stands.

InterventionBiochemical/genetic (SAMTOR)
TargetSAMTOR / GATOR1 / mTORC1 (SAM/methionine)
ModelHuman cells (biochemistry)
EffectSAMTOR is an S-adenosylmethionine sensor that inhibits mTORC1 by interacting with GATOR1

In the Atlas

Related topics

SAMTORmTORC1S-adenosylmethionine (SAM)MethionineGATOR1

Links in the pathway map

Open questions that cite this study

More studies on this topic

Learn the biology

Want to understand the biology behind this study? → Nutrient Sensing

Cite this paper

ShowHide 
Gu, X., Orozco, J. M., Saxton, R. A., Condon, K. J., Liu, G. Y., Krawczyk, P. A., Scaria, S. M., Harper, J. W., Gygi, S. P., & Sabatini, D. M. (2017). SAMTOR is an S-adenosylmethionine sensor for the mTORC1 pathway. Science. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aao3265

@article{GU2017,
  author       = {Gu, X. and Orozco, J. M. and Saxton, R. A. and Condon, K. J. and Liu, G. Y. and Krawczyk, P. A. and Scaria, S. M. and Harper, J. W. and Gygi, S. P. and Sabatini, D. M.},
  title        = {{SAMTOR is an S-adenosylmethionine sensor for the mTORC1 pathway}},
  journal      = {Science},
  year         = {2017},
  doi          = {10.1126/science.aao3265},
  note         = {PMID: 29123071},
}

Cite this Atlas record

The record is the Atlas's own work — the evidence label, the extracted findings and the links. It is cited as part of the dataset, not as the paper. 

Barton, O. (2026). Oliver's mTOR Atlas (record GU2017) [Data set]. https://mtor-atlas.org/study/GU2017/ · Dataset DOI 10.5281/zenodo.22059963

@misc{atlas_GU2017,
  author       = {Barton, Oliver},
  title        = {{Oliver's mTOR Atlas}, record GU2017},
  howpublished = {Data set},
  year         = {2026},
  url          = {https://mtor-atlas.org/study/GU2017/},
  doi          = {10.5281/zenodo.22059963}
}
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