Genome-based diets improve growth, fertility and lifespan

In flies and mice, diets based on an organism's genome enhance growth and fertility with no costs to lifespan, according to a team of researchers from UCL and the Max Planck Institute for Biology of Ageing in Cologne. A moderate reduction in food intake, known as dietary restriction, protects against multiple ageing-related diseases and extends life span, but can also supress growth and fertility. To avoid these damaging effects, the scientists designed a special diet based on the genome of the model organism. In the study, published today in Cell Metabolism , the team calculated the amount of amino acids a fruit fly would need, thereby defining the diet's amino acid composition. 'The fly genome is entirely known. For our studies we used only the sections in the genetic material that serve as templates for protein assembly - the exons, which collectively make up the 'exome'. Then we calculated the relative abundance of each amino acid in the exome, and designed a fly diet that reflects this amino acid composition,' explained George Soultoukis, who works alongside Professor Linda Partridge, Director at the Max Planck Institute for Biology of Ageing in Cologne and at the UCL Institute of Healthy Ageing in London.