 quiescent stem cells are activated in response to a mechanical or chemical injury to their tissue niche. When this occurs, they rapidly generate a heterogeneous progenitor population which can regenerate the damaged tissues. The transcriptional cadence that generates this heterogeneity is known, but the metabolic pathways influencing the transcriptional machinery to establish a heterogeneous progenitor population remain unclear. Here we have described a novel pathway downstream of mitochondrial glutamine metabolism which confers stem cell heterogeneity and establishes differentiation competence by counteracting post-mitotic self-renewal machinery. This pathway involves the activation of PAS domain containing kinase, PASK, which is released from cytoplasmic granules and subsequently enters the nucleus. There, it catalyzes the degradation of the mitotic protein WDR5, which is involved in the APC, C-mediated destruction of PAC-7, a gene essential for maintaining stem cell identity. As a result, PAX-7 levels decrease and the stem cell becomes committed to differentiating into a specific type of cell. Gen. This article was authored by Michael Xiao, Keahua Wu, Graham Meek, and others. We are article.tv, links in the description below.