mTOR Signaling in Growth Control and Disease
The mammalian target of rapamycin is a protein kinase known as the mTOR signaling
pathway. mTOR is a protein kinase, which stands for mammalian target of rapamycin. TOR was
uncovered in early 1990s for its inhibiting characteristics involving bacterial proteins.
Biochemical approaches involving purifying mTOR revealed it being the physical target for the
macrolide rapamycin. Rapamycin is a macrolide produced by Streptomyces Hygroscopicus
bacteria. The bacteria Sterptomyces Hygroscopicus gives rise to the macrolide rapamycin, some
antibiotics are known to inhibit protein synthesis. (Cafferkey et al., 1993; Kunz et al., 1993).
mTOR uses both intracellular and extracellular signals to regulate growth and proliferation via
mTOR1 as well as cellular defense via mTOR2. The atypical serine/threonine mTOR protein
kinase complex differentiates into two sub units charged with physiologically different
