Alterations in lipid metabolism determine metabolic disease and mortality in the aging population. Despite our understanding of regulation of lipid metabolism, how organisms sense lipid remains unknown. It is conceivable that sensing of lipid will inform downstream decisions taken by the cell that modulate metabolism, proteostasis, stress response, and growth—each of which are dysregulated with age. The mechanistic target of rapamycin (mTOR), is a serine/threonine kinase and amino acid sensor, that drives growth and proliferation. More recently, mTOR in cultured cells has been shown to be activated by cholesterol and phosphatidic acid (PA) in absence of amino acids. Whether mTOR senses lipid in whole organisms is unclear. mTOR exists as two major complexes—mTORC1 and mTORC2. Activation of mTORC1 occurs at the lysosomal surface in presence of amino acids and requires key regulatory proteins that stimulate its activity. By contrast, mTORC2 responds to growth factors to regulate cytoskeletal organization. Hyperactivation of mTORC1 (hereafter, mTOR) drives aging and age-related diseases in part by disrupting autophagy and promoting growth. However, how mTORC1 is hyperactivated with age remains unknown. It has been shown that there are quantitative and qualitative changes in membrane lipids with age including changes in lysosomal membrane lipids—the major site of mTOR activation. Our preliminary data show that subjecting mice to an oral gavage of corn oil causes activation of mTOR and its translocation to distinct cholesterol-rich microdomains (CRMs)/lipid rafts in lysosome membranes. Our preliminary data also show that immunoprecipitating mTOR from lysosome membranes from livers of oil-gavaged mice reveal its binding to diacylglycerol. These data suggest that mTOR is a sensor of diacylglycerol, a membrane lipid. Since mTOR senses nutrients at lysosome membranes, I hypothesize that mTOR senses lipid at lysosomal membranes, and that age-related changes in lysosomal membrane lipid composition lead to mTOR hyperactivation. To test our hypothesis, we present the following specific aims: In Aim 1, diverse approaches will be used to characterize lipid-driven mTOR activation at lysosome membranes. By immunoprecipitating mTOR from lysosome membranes for lipidomic and proteomic analyses, I will identify lipid species that bind to mTOR and its interacting partners. I will use an siRNA screen in vitro to silence each of the interacting partners, which will identify novel regulators of lipid-driven mTOR signaling. In Aim 2, I will characterize the changes in lipid composition of lysosome membrane CRMs and expansion of lysosome CRMs with age. I will determine whether alterations in membrane lipid composition with age correlate with increased mTOR activity. I will then determine whether inactivating the synthesis of specific membrane lipids, e.g., PA and DG, by shRNAs against relevant biosynthetic enzymes in liver will dampen age-related mTOR hyperactivation. I wil...