Cytosolic AcCoA: a metabolic signal bridging nutrient sensing and mitophagy.

How cells sense energy status to precisely regulate organelle fate is a central question in life sciences. Recent work by Zhang et al. reframes cytosolic acetyl-coenzyme A (AcCoA) from a metabolic substrate into a signaling metabolite that directly regulates mitophagy, thereby establishing a molecular link between nutrient sensing and mitochondrial homeostasis.