Cited by 1,173Cancer, Hypoxia, and MetabolismMitochondrial Function and PathologyAmino Acid Enzymes and Metabolism

Supporting aspartate biosynthesis is an essential function of respiration in proliferating cells

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Sullivan, Lucas B., Gui, Dan Y., Hosios, Aaron M., Bush, Lauren N., Freinkman, Elizaveta, Vander Heiden, Matthew G.·2015·Cell

Abstract

Mitochondrial respiration is important for cell proliferation; however, the specific metabolic requirements fulfilled by respiration to support proliferation have not been defined. Here, we show that a major role of respiration in proliferating cells is to provide electron acceptors for aspartate synthesis. This finding is consistent with the observation that cells lacking a functional respiratory chain are auxotrophic for pyruvate, which serves as an exogenous electron acceptor. Further, the pyruvate requirement can be fulfilled with an alternative electron acceptor, alpha-ketobutyrate, which provides cells neither carbon nor ATP. Alpha-ketobutyrate restores proliferation when respiration is inhibited, suggesting that an alternative electron acceptor can substitute for respiration to support proliferation. We find that electron acceptors are limiting for producing aspartate, and supplying aspartate enables proliferation of respiration deficient cells in the absence of exogenous electron acceptors. Together, these data argue a major function of respiration in proliferating cells is to support aspartate synthesis.

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Crossref · 10.1016/j.cell.2015.07.017

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  • The availability of NAD+ as an electron acceptor enables aspartate synthesis through aspartate aminotransferase and rescues the proliferation of cultured cells with dysfunctions or inhibition of the electron transport system.

    “The availability of NAD+ as an electron acceptor enables aspartate synthesis through aspartate aminotransferase and rescues the proliferation of cultured cells with dysfunctions or inhibition of the electron transport system [16,17].”
  • Mitochondrial respiration remains important in proliferating cells, allowing production of biosynthetic precursors and electron acceptors that enable aspartate synthesis.

    “Despite the prevalence of glycolysis, mitochondrial respiration remains important in proliferating cells, allowing the production of biosynthetic precursors and the generation of electron acceptors that enable aspartate synthesis, for example [9,16,17].”
  • Genetic or epigenetic silencing of ASS1 provides an advantage to tumor cells by allowing them to preserve cellular aspartate, a poorly transported nutrient that can be a critical output of the TCA cycle to support de novo nucleotide synthesis and cell proliferation.

    “Genetic or epigenetic silencing of ASS1 expression provides an advantage to tumor cells by allowing them to preserve cellular aspartate (Rabinovich et al., 2015), a poorly transported nutrient that can be a critical output of the TCA cycle to support de novo nucleotide synthesis and cell proliferation (Birsoy et al., 2015; Sullivan et al., 2015).”

    From Targeting Metabolism for Cancer Therapy (2017) · cites this paper as Sullivan et al., 2015

  • Mitochondrial ATP production appears dispensable for many proliferating cells.

    “However, mitochondrial ATP production appears dispensable for many proliferating cells (Birsoy et al., 2015; Sullivan et al., 2015; Titov et al., 2016).”

    From Targeting Metabolism for Cancer Therapy (2017) · cites this paper as Sullivan et al., 2015

  • Respiration serves an anabolic role for proliferating cells by regenerating NAD+ from NADH.

    “Instead, respiration serves an alternative anabolic role for proliferating cells by regenerating the oxidized form of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD+) from the reduced form (NADH) (Birsoy et al., 2015; Sullivan et al., 2015; Titov et al., 2016).”

    From Targeting Metabolism for Cancer Therapy (2017) · cites this paper as Sullivan et al., 2015

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Authors
Sullivan, L. B., Gui, D. Y., Hosios, A. M., Bush, L. N., Freinkman, E., & Vander Heiden, M. G.
Affiliations
  • Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research At MIT (US)
  • Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research (US)
Venue
Cell
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2015-07
Volume
162
Issue
3
Pages
552-563
ISSN
0092-8674 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W1553978925
Cited by
1,173
References
55
Citations by year
2026: 106 · 2025: 95 · 2024: 97 · 2023: 120 · 2022: 151 · 2021: 129 · 2020: 128 · 2019: 90 · 2018: 98 · 2017: 75 · 2016: 71 · 2015: 11 · 2014: 1
FWCI
28.20
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Cell (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
Funders
  • Howard Hughes Medical Institute
  • U.S. Public Health Service (GG006413)
  • National Cancer Institute (P30CA1405141, R01CA168653, P30CA014051)
  • National Institute of General Medical Sciences (T32GM007753, T32GM007287)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Cancer Research › Cancer, Hypoxia, and Metabolism
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Mitochondrial Function and Pathology
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Biochemistry › Amino Acid Enzymes and Metabolism
Keywords
mitochondrial respiration, aspartate biosynthesis, cell proliferation, electron acceptors, pyruvate, alpha-ketobutyrate, respiratory chain deficiency, auxotrophy, alternative electron acceptors
MeSH terms
Adenosine Triphosphate, Aspartic Acid, Butyrates, Electrons, Humans, Mitochondria, Nucleotides, Cell Respiration, Pyruvic Acid, Cell Line, Tumor, Cell Proliferation

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