The acute transcriptional responses to dietary methionine restriction are triggered by inhibition of ternary complex formation and linked to Erk1/2, mTOR, and ATF4

The initial sensing of dietary methionine restriction (MR) occurs in the liver where it activates an integrated stress response (ISR) that quickly reduces methionine utilization. The ISR program is regulated in part by ATF4, but ATF4’s prototypical upstream regulator, eIF2α, is not acutely activated by MR. Bioinformatic analysis of RNAseq and metabolomics data from liver samples harvested 3 h and 6 h after initiating MR shows that general translation is inhibited at the level of ternary complex formation by an acute 50% reduction of hepatic methionine that limits formation of initiator methionine tRNA. The resulting ISR is induced by selective expression of ATF4 target genes that mediate adaptation to reduced methionine intake and return hepatic methionine to control levels within 4 days of starting the diet. Complementary in vitro experiments in HepG2 cells after knockdown of ATF4, or inhibition of mTOR or Erk1/2 support the conclusion that the early induction of genes by MR is partially dependent on ATF4 and regulated by both mTOR and Erk1/2. Taken together, these data show that initiation of dietary MR induces an mTOR- and Erk1/2-dependent stress response that is linked to ATF4 by the sharp, initial drop in hepatic methionine and resulting repression of translation pre-initiation.