Drastic protein degradation occurs during muscle atrophy induced by denervation, fasting,
immobility, and various systemic diseases. Although the ubiquitin-proteasome system is
highly up-regulated in denervated muscles, the involvement of autophagy and protein
synthesis has been controversial. Here, we report that autophagy is rather suppressed in
denervated muscles even under autophagy-inducible starvation conditions. This is due to a
constitutive activation of mammalian target of rapamycin complex 1 (mTORC1). We further …