Nutrient regulated control of lysosome function by signaling lipid conversion

Lysosomes serve dual antagonistic functions in cells by mediating anabolic growth signaling and the catabolic turnover of macromolecules. How these janus-faced activities are regulated in response to cellular nutrient status is poorly understood. We show here that lysosome morphology and function are reversibly controlled by a nutrient-regulated signaling lipid switch that triggers the conversion between motile mTOR complex 1 (mTORC1) signaling-active and static mTORC1-inactive degradative lysosomes clustered at the cell center. Starvation-triggered relocalization of phosphatidylinositol 4-phosphate [PI(4)P] metabolizing enzymes reshapes the lysosomal surface proteome to facilitate lysosomal proteolysis and to repress mTORC1-signaling by erasing phosphatidylinositol 3-phosphate [PI(3)P], which marks motile signaling-active lysosomes in the cell periphery. Interference with this PI(3)P/ PI(4)P lipid switch module impairs the adaptive response of cells to altering nutrient supply. Our data unravel a key function for lysosomal phosphoinositide metabolism in rewiring organellar membrane dynamics in response to cellular nutrient status.