mTOR at the nexus of nutrition, growth, ageing and disease

Liu GY, Sabatini DM · 2020 · Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology · Atlas ID LIU2020

What this study shows

The flagship modern review of the whole field, from Sabatini's own lab (Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology). Maps 25+ years of mTOR biology - how it senses nutrients, controls growth and autophagy, and goes wrong in cancer, neurodegeneration, metabolic disease and aging. The single best orientation document for the entire Atlas.

Abstract

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The mTOR pathway integrates a diverse set of environmental cues, such as growth factor signals and nutritional status, to direct eukaryotic cell growth. Over the past two and a half decades, mapping of the mTOR signalling landscape has revealed that mTOR controls biomass accumulation and metabolism by modulating key cellular processes, including protein synthesis and autophagy. Given the pathway's central role in maintaining cellular and physiological homeostasis, dysregulation of mTOR signalling has been implicated in metabolic disorders, neurodegeneration, cancer and ageing.

Read the full abstract on PubMed →

At a glance

Evidence type	R Review — secondary literature, not a new result Marked R because it is a review or synthesis of existing evidence rather than a new primary result; that is a different form of writing, not a weaker one.
Study type	Narrative Review
Model system	Review (comprehensive)
Journal	Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology
Year	2020
Peer reviewed	Yes
Record last updated	2026-10-01
Source	DOI 10.1038/s41580-019-0199-y · PMID 31937935 · Free full text (PMC7102936)

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.

Intervention	Not applicable (review)
Target	mTOR
Model	Review
Effect	Reviews mTOR integrating nutrition, growth, ageing and disease via protein synthesis and autophagy

In the Atlas

Cite this paper

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Liu, G. Y., & Sabatini, D. M. (2020). mTOR at the nexus of nutrition, growth, ageing and disease. Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41580-019-0199-y

@article{LIU2020,
  author       = {Liu, G. Y. and Sabatini, D. M.},
  title        = {{mTOR at the nexus of nutrition, growth, ageing and disease}},
  journal      = {Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology},
  year         = {2020},
  doi          = {10.1038/s41580-019-0199-y},
  note         = {PMID: 31937935},
}

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 LIU2020) [Data set]. https://mtor-atlas.org/study/LIU2020/ · Dataset DOI 10.5281/zenodo.22059963

@misc{atlas_LIU2020,
  author       = {Barton, Oliver},
  title        = {{Oliver's mTOR Atlas}, record LIU2020},
  howpublished = {Data set},
  year         = {2026},
  url          = {https://mtor-atlas.org/study/LIU2020/},
  doi          = {10.5281/zenodo.22059963}
}

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