Not much is known about TOR in plant galls. The TOR may have specific function in plant organelles. Since polyamine pathway was found associated with TOR in Arabidopsis (see Ren et al. Plant Cell, Dec 2012), it is likely associated with autophagy..

In plants, TOR signaling is activated in high sugar conditions.

It would be possible to do a little test, which in my incompetence seems simple, grow plants with galls with and without an inhibitor of TOR (rapamycin, etc..). Maybe you could give some preliminary indication and provide material for more extensive evaluations. Maybe it's already been done?

What do you think?

Hi

as mentionned before not much is known about TOR function in plants but it is clear that TOR is associated with cell proliferation and active metabolism. So gall formation (insect galls?) could well be associated with TOR actoivation but this remains to be proven by using TOR inhibitors or by measuring TOR activity in galls;!

…abscisic acid  (ABA) inhibited gall growth… (1)

 Together, these results indicate that ABA or osmotic stress provokes a decrease in AtTOR expression or activity (2)

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1973950/

Article Exogenous phytohormones and the induction of plant galls by insects

Supplemental Figure S4.

Root phenotypes of transgenic Arabidopsis TOR kinase domain over-expression lines. The kinase domain (P35S:TOR2031-2350) transgenic Arabidopsis plant shows tuberous root phenotype (A) and normal root phenotype in wild type plant (B). C and D show images of longitudinal sections from the bracketed areas in A and B respectively. In C, that the top part of the kinase expressing transgenic root shows the inclusion of several layers of pith parenchyma (PP) cells between the vascular bundle (VB) tissues relative to wild type (D). Bars=0.1 mm.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3046592/

Although two TOR genes have been found in yeast, plants and mammals typically contain a single TOR gene (Laplante & Sabatini, 2012). Consistent with a recent study (Maegawa et al., 2015), we found a single rice TOR homolog present on chromosome 5. The rice TOR gene (OsTOR) spans a 25.933-kb genomic region with 58 exons and 57 introns (Fig. S1a), which is similar to the number of introns found in TOR of A. thaliana (55) and Homo sapiens (56). The gene codes for a predicted 2465-amino-acid-long protein containing all domains characteristic of eukaryotic TOR proteins, including the N-terminal HEAT, focal adhesion target (FAT) and FKBP12/rapamycin-binding (FRB) motifs, as well as the kinase and C-terminal FAT (FATC) domains.

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/nph.14785/epdf

Summary

• Plant defense to microbial pathogens is often accompanied by significant growth inhibition. How plants merge immune system function with normal growth and development is still poorly understood. Here, we investigated the role of target of rapamycin (TOR), an evolutionary conserved serine/threonine kinase, in the plant defense response.
• We used rice as a model system and applied a combination of chemical, genetic, genomic and cell-based analyses.
• We demonstrate that ectopic expression of TOR and Raptor (regulatory-associated protein of mTOR), a protein previously demonstrated to interact with TOR in Arabidopsis, positively regulates growth and development in rice. Transcriptome analysis of rice cells treated with the TOR-specific inhibitor rapamycin revealed that TOR not only dictates transcriptional reprogramming of extensive gene sets involved in central and secondary metabolism, cell cycle and transcription, but also suppresses many defense-related genes. TOR overexpression lines displayed increased susceptibility to both bacterial and fungal pathogens, whereas plants with reduced TOR signaling displayed enhanced resistance. Finally, we found that TOR antagonizes the action of the classic defense hormones salicylic acid and jasmonic acid.
• Together, these results indicate that TOR acts as a molecular switch for the activation of cell proliferation and plant growth at the expense of cellular immunity.

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/nph.14785/epdf

Article The Arabidopsis TOR Kinase Specifically Regulates the Expres...

The Arabidopsis TOR Kinase Specifically Regulates the Expression of Nuclear Genes Coding for Plastidic Ribosomal Proteins and the Phosphorylation of the Cytosolic Ribosomal Protein S6 .

Arabidopsis RPS6 mRNA has a large homology with human RPS6 mRNA:

Arabidopsis thaliana ribosomal protein S6 (RPS6), mRNA vs Homo sapiens cDNA, FLJ92127, Homo sapiens ribosomal protein S6 (RPS6), mRNA. Expect 7e-33, Identities 317/471(67%).

Article PEComas: The past, the present and the future

LC3B-II molecule is over-represented in both epithelioid and classic renal angiomyolipoma (Perivascilar epithelioid cell tumors / PEComas)

Article LC3B and ph-S6K are both expressed in epithelioid and classi...

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OMIM 609604

MICROTUBULE-ASSOCIATED PROTEIN 1, LIGHT CHAIN 3, BETA; MAP1LC3B / LC3B

Behrends et al. (2010) reported a proteomic analysis of the autophagy interaction network (AIN) in human cells under conditions of ongoing (basal) autophagy, revealing a network of 751 interactions among 409 candidate interacting proteins with extensive connectivity among subnetworks. Many new AIN components have roles in vesicle trafficking, protein or lipid phosphorylation, and protein ubiquitination, and affect autophagosome number or flux when depleted by RNA interference. The 6 human orthologs of yeast autophagy-8 (ATG8), MAP1LC3A, MAP1LC3B, MAP1LC3C, GABARAP (605125), GABARAPL1 (607420), and GABARAPL2 (607452), interact with a cohort of 67 proteins, with extensive binding partner overlap between family members, and frequent involvement of a conserved surface on ATG8 proteins known to interact with LC3-interacting regions in partner proteins. Behrends et al. (2010) concluded that their studies provided a global view of the mammalian autophagy interaction landscape and a resource for mechanistic analysis of this critical protein homeostasis pathway.

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The autophagy genes ATG8 and ATG1 affect morphogenesis and pathogenicity in Ustilago maydis.

Nadal M., Gold S.E.

Mol. Plant Pathol. 11:463-478(2010)

Autophagy is a complex degradative process in which cytosolic material, including organelles, is randomly sequestered within double-membrane vesicles termed autophagosomes. In Saccharomyces cerevisiae, the autophagy genes ATG1 and ATG8 are crucial for autophagy induction and autophagosome assembly, respectively, and their deletion has an impact on the autophagic potential of the corresponding mutant strains. We were interested in the role of autophagy in the development and virulence of U. maydis. Using a reverse genetic approach, we showed that the U. maydis ATG8 orthologue, atg8, is associated with autophagy-dependent processes. Deletion of atg8 abolished autophagosome accumulation in the vacuoles of carbon-starved cells and drastically reduced the survival of U. maydisDeltaatg8 mutant strains during these conditions. In addition, atg8 deletion had an impact on the budding process during saprobic haploid growth. The infection of maize with compatible Deltaatg8 strains resulted in fewer galled plants, and fungal gall colonization was strongly reduced, as reflected by the very low hyphal density in these tissues. Deltaatg8 infections resulted in the formation of very few teliospores. To corroborate the role of autophagy in U. maydis development, we also deleted the ATG1 orthologue, atg1. Deletion of atg1 yielded phenotypes similar to the Deltaatg8 strains during saprobic growth, but of lower magnitude. The Deltaatg1 strains were only slightly less pathogenic than the wild-type and teliospore production was not affected. Surprisingly, atg1 deletion in the Deltaatg8 background exacerbated those phenotypes already observed in the Deltaatg8 and Deltaatg1 single-mutant strains, strongly suggesting an additive phenotype. In particular, the double mutant was completely suppressed for plant gall induction.

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I looked for homologies between human LC3B and plant genes and, although there is not a very large homology, the first plant gene with homology with LC3B is ATG8; but what seems most significant to me is that all the other genes are related to autophagy. processes and not dispersed in different pathways

Article Understanding and exploiting autophagy signaling in plants

Article A Legume TOR Protein Kinase Regulates Rhizobium Symbiosis an...

The target of rapamycin (TOR) protein kinase regulates metabolism, growth, and life span in yeast, animals, and plants in coordination with nutrient status and environmental conditions. The nutrient-dependent nature of TOR functionality makes this kinase a putative regulator of symbiotic associations involving nutrient acquisition. However, TOR’s role in these processes remains to be understood. Here, we uncovered the role of TOR during the bean (Phaseolus vulgaris)-Rhizobium tropici (Rhizobium) symbiotic interaction. TOR was expressed in all tested bean tissues, with higher transcript levels in the root meristems and senesced nodules. We showed TOR promoter expression along the progressing infection thread and in the infected cells of mature nodules. Posttranscriptional gene silencing of TOR using RNA interference (RNAi) showed that this gene is involved in lateral root elongation and root cell organization and also alters the density, size, and number of root hairs. The suppression of TOR transcripts also affected infection thread progression and associated cortical cell divisions, resulting in a drastic reduction of nodule numbers. TOR-RNAi resulted in reduced reactive oxygen species accumulation and altered CyclinD1 and CyclinD3expression, which are crucial factors for infection thread progression and nodule organogenesis. Enhanced expression of TOR-regulated ATG genes in TOR-RNAi roots suggested that TOR plays a role in the recognition of Rhizobium as a symbiont. Together, these data suggest that TOR plays a vital role in the establishment of root nodule symbiosis in the common bean. © 2016 American Society of Plant Biologists. All rights reserved.