Autophagy promotes mitochondrial respiration by providing serine for one-carbon-metabolism

Whether macroautophagy/autophagy is physiologically relevant to regulate mitochondrial function for a rapid and dynamic adaptation of yeast cells to respiratory growth was not fully understood until recently. May et al. (2020. Nat Commun) report that bulk autophagy provides serine as a one-carbon (1C) metabolite that controls respiratory growth onset by initiating mitochondrial initiator tRNA^Met modification and mitochondrial translation linking autophagy mechanistically to mitochondrial function. We discuss the mechanistic interplay between autophagy, one-carbon-metabolism, and mitochondrial function and the possible implications in neurodegeneration, aging, and carcinogenesis.Abbreviations: 10-formyl-THF: 10-formyl-tetrahydrofolate; OXPHOS: oxidative phosphorylation; PAS: phagophore assembly site.