Both the magnitude and duration of insulin signaling are important in executing its cellular functions. Insulin-induced degradation of insulin receptor substrate 1 (IRS1) represents a key negative feedback loop that restricts insulin signaling. Moreover, high concentrations of fatty acids (FAs) and glucose involved in the etiology of obesity-associated insulin resistance also contribute to the regulation of IRS1 degradation. The scavenger receptor CD36 binds many lipid ligands and its contribution to insulin resistance has been extensively studied, but the exact regulation of insulin sensitivity by CD36 is highly controversial. Herein, we found that CD36 knockdown in C2C12 myotubes accelerated insulin-stimulated Akt activation, but the activated signaling was sustained for a much shorter period of time as compared to wild type cells, leading to exacerbated insulin-induced insulin resistance. This was likely due to enhanced insulin-induced IRS1 degradation after CD36 knockdown. Overexpression of wild type CD36, but not a ubiquitination-defective CD36 mutant delayed Akt activation. We also found that CD36 functioned through ubiquitination-dependent binding to IRS1 and inhibiting its interaction with cullin 7, a key component of the multi-subunit cullin-RING E3 ubiquitin ligase complex. Moreover, dissociation of the Src family kinase Fyn from CD36 by free FAs or Fyn knockdown/inhibition accelerated insulin-induced IRS1 degradation, likely due to disrupted IRS1 interaction with CD36 and thus enhanced binding to cullin 7. In summary, we identified a CD36-dependent FA-sensing pathway that plays an important role in negative feedback regulation of insulin activation and may open up strategies for preventing or managing type 2 diabetes mellitus.Cell signaling is usually initiated by binding an activating ligand to a receptor on the plasma membrane (PM) that transmits the signal inside the cell. Distinct cellular responses and outcomes of a signaling pathway are achieved by precise regulation of its duration, magnitude and subcellular compartmentalization, which is mediated by an integrated network with multiple http://www.jbc.org/cgi