Withdrawal of Essential Amino Acids Increases Autophagy by a Pathway Involving Ca2+/Calmodulin-dependent Kinase Kinase-β (CaMKK-β)

Autophagy is the main lysosomal catabolic process that becomes activated under stress conditions, such as amino acid starvation and cytosolic Ca2+ upload. However, the molecular details on how both conditions control autophagy are still not fully understood. Here we link essential amino acid starvation and Ca2+ in a signaling pathway to activate autophagy. We show that withdrawal of essential amino acids leads to an increase in cytosolic Ca2+, arising from both extracellular medium and intracellular stores, which induces the activation of adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase (AMPK) via Ca2+/calmodulin-dependent kinase kinase-beta (CaMKK-beta). Furthermore, we show that autophagy induced by amino acid starvation requires AMPK, as this induction is attenuated in its absence. Subsequently, AMPK activates UNC-51-like kinase (ULK1), a mammalian autophagy-initiating kinase, through phosphorylation at Ser-555 in a process that requires CaMKK-beta. Finally, the mammalian target of rapamycin complex C1 (mTORC1), a negative regulator of autophagy downstream of AMPK, is inhibited by amino acid starvation in a Ca2+-sensitive manner, and CaMKK-beta appears to be important for mTORC1 inactivation, especially in the absence of extracellular Ca2+. All these results highlight that amino acid starvation regulates autophagy in part through an increase in cellular Ca2+ that activates a CaMKK-beta-AMPK pathway and inhibits mTORC1, which results in ULK1 stimulation.