Continuous sensing of nutrients and growth factors by the mTORC1-TFEB axis

Sparta B, Albeck JG et al. · 2023 · eLife · Atlas ID SPA2023

What this study shows

Live imaging of single MCF10A cells shows mTORC1-TFEB signalling adjusts continuously to amino acids and insulin, given alone, one after another or together; at physiological amino acid levels TFEB, AMPK and AKT activity fluctuate in step, and these graded changes track protein synthesis rate through a distributed set of mTORC1 effectors.

Abstract

ShowHide

mTORC1 senses nutrients and growth factors and phosphorylates downstream targets, including the transcription factor TFEB, to coordinate metabolic supply and demand. These functions position mTORC1 as a central controller of cellular homeostasis, but the behavior of this system in individual cells has not been well characterized. Here, we provide measurements necessary to refine quantitative models for mTORC1 as a metabolic controller.

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 MCF10A cells (live single-cell imaging, fluorescent TFEB fusions)) 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 type	5 - Mechanistic / In Vitro
Model system	Human MCF10A cells (live single-cell imaging, fluorescent TFEB fusions)
Journal	eLife
Year	2023
Peer reviewed	Yes
Record last updated	2026-09-23
Source	DOI 10.7554/eLife.74903 · PMID 37698461 · Free full text (PMC10547473)

Extracted findings

Intervention	Amino acids and insulin, alone, sequential or combined (live-cell stimulation)
Target	mTORC1 / TFEB
Model	Human cell line
Effect	mTORC1-TFEB activity changes continuously and fluctuates with nutrient availability in single cells

Cite this paper

ShowHide

Sparta, B., et al. (2023). Continuous sensing of nutrients and growth factors by the mTORC1-TFEB axis. eLife. https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.74903

@article{SPA2023,
  author       = {Sparta, B. and Albeck, J. G. and others},
  title        = {{Continuous sensing of nutrients and growth factors by the mTORC1-TFEB axis}},
  journal      = {eLife},
  year         = {2023},
  doi          = {10.7554/eLife.74903},
  note         = {PMID: 37698461},
}

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 SPA2023) [Data set]. https://mtor-atlas.org/study/SPA2023/ · Dataset DOI 10.5281/zenodo.22059963

@misc{atlas_SPA2023,
  author       = {Barton, Oliver},
  title        = {{Oliver's mTOR Atlas}, record SPA2023},
  howpublished = {Data set},
  year         = {2026},
  url          = {https://mtor-atlas.org/study/SPA2023/},
  doi          = {10.5281/zenodo.22059963}
}