Chicken Eggs Are a Practical and Common Exome-Matched Diet for Multicellular Eukaryotic Organisms

Abstract

A 2017 study reported that a diet reflecting the average exomic amino acid composition of a fruit fly—referred to as its “exome-matched diet”—maximized both its lifespan and reproductive output. Building on this insight, a species-specific exome-matched diet was proposed as a candidate for an organism’s optimal amino acid composition.

In this analysis, I used publicly available Reference Proteomes data for 81 different species to calculate each species’ exome-matched diet amino acid composition. I then compared these compositions to approximately 2,000 food items listed in the official Japanese Standard Tables of Food Composition to determine which foods best matched each species’ exome profile. While there was substantial variability among most prokaryotic and certain unicellular eukaryotic organisms, my findings revealed that, with a few exceptions, whole chicken eggs or egg-based products most closely approximated the calculated exome-matched amino acid composition for a broad range of eukaryotic species, especially multicellular organisms. Consequently, for these organisms, whole chicken eggs appear to serve as a practical exome-matched diet.

Although the exome-matched diet does not automatically define an absolutely optimal amino acid composition for nutrition, the finding that the exome-matched diets of multicellular eukaryotes are essentially represented by chicken eggs aligns well with established nutritional principles. This consistency, paradoxically, further suggests the validity of the exome-matched diet concept.