PREFACE The ability to sense and respond to fluctuations in environmental nutrient levels is a requisite for life. Nutrient scarcity is a selective pressure that has shaped the evolution of most cellular processes. Different pathways that detect intracellular and extracellular levels of sugars, amino acids and lipids, and surrogate metabolites, are then integrated and coordinated at the organismal level via hormonal signals. During food abundance, nutrient sensing pathways engage anabolism and storage, and scarcity triggers homeostatic mechanisms, like the mobilization of internal stores through mechanisms such as autophagy. Nutrient sensing pathways are commonly deregulated in human metabolic diseases.

The mTOR complex 1 (mTORC1) protein kinase is a master growth regulator that responds to multiple environmental cues. Amino acids stimulate, in a Rag-, Ragulator-, and v-ATPase-dependent fashion, the translocation of mTORC1 to the lysosomal surface, where it interacts with its activator Rheb. Here, we identify SLC38A9, an uncharacterized protein with sequence similarity to amino acid transporters, as a lysosomal transmembrane protein that interacts with the Rag GTPases and Ragulator in an amino acid-sensitive fashion. SLC38A9 transports arginine with a high Km and loss of SLC38A9 represses mTORC1 activation by amino acids, particularly arginine. Overexpression of SLC38A9 or just its Ragulator-binding domain makes mTORC1 signaling insensitive to amino acid starvation but not to Rag activity. Thus, SLC38A9 functions upstream of the Rag GTPases and is an excellent candidate for being an arginine sensor for the mTORC1 pathway.