Skeletal Muscle mTORC1 Activation Increases Energy Expenditure and Reduces Longevity in Mice

The mechanistic target of rapamycin (mTORC1) is a nutrient responsive protein kinase complex that helps co-ordinate anabolic processes across all tissues. There is evidence that signaling through mTORC1 in skeletal muscle may be a determinant of energy expenditure and aging and therefore components downstream of mTORC1 signaling may be potential targets for treating obesity and age-associated metabolic disease. Here, we generated mice with Ckmm-Cre driven ablation of Tsc1, which confers constitutive activation of mTORC1 in skeletal muscle and performed unbiased transcriptional analyses to identify pathways and candidate genes that may explain how skeletal muscle mTORC1 activity regulates energy balance and aging. Activation of skeletal muscle mTORC1 produced a striking resistance to diet- and age-induced obesity without inducing systemic insulin resistance. We found that increases in energy expenditure following a high fat diet were mTORC1-dependent and that elevated energy expenditure caused by ablation of Tsc1 coincided with the upregulation of skeletal muscle-specific thermogenic mechanisms that involve sarcolipin-driven futile cycling of Ca2+ through SERCA2. Additionally, we report that constitutive activation of mTORC1 in skeletal muscle reduces lifespan. These findings support the hypothesis that activation of mTORC1 and its downstream targets, specifically in skeletal muscle, may play a role in nutrient-dependent thermogenesis and aging.