Matching Dietary Amino Acid Balance to the In Silico-Translated Exome Optimizes Growth and Reproduction without Cost to Lifespan

Summary

Balancing the quantity and quality of dietary protein relative to other nutrients is a key determinant of evolutionary fitness. A theoretical framework for defining a balanced diet would both reduce the enormous workload to optimize diets empirically and represent a breakthrough toward tailoring diets to the needs of consumers. Here, we report a simple and powerful in silico technique that uses the genome information of an organism to define its dietary amino acid requirements. We show for the fruit fly  Drosophila melanogaster that such “exome-matched” diets are more satiating, enhance growth, and increase reproduction relative to non-matched diets. Thus, early life fitness traits can be enhanced at low levels of dietary amino acids that do not impose a cost to lifespan. Exome matching also enhanced mouse growth, indicating that it can be applied to other organisms whose genome sequence is known.

Graphical Abstract

Highlights

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  In silico genome translation defines amino acid ratios for exome-matched diets

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  Exome-matched diets reduce ad libitum food intake in flies and mice

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  Exome-matched diets enhance early life fitness in flies without lifespan cost

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  Improved mouse growth on an exome-matched diet demonstrates its utility for mammals

Abstract

Dietary protein is a critical determinant of health, but the empirical determination of optimal amino acid ratios is challenging. Piper et al. show that a consumer’s genome provides a template for optimal dietary amino acid proportions. Low amounts of optimized protein are simultaneously beneficial for appetite, growth, reproduction, and lifespan.