Animal nutrition is a fundamental determinant of physiological homeostasis, directly influencing growth, development, and overall health. Nutrient intake, digestion, absorption, and metabolism regulate key biochemical, endocrine, and immunological processes, ensuring the functional integrity of tissues and organs. Advances in molecular biology, systems physiology, and omics technologies have significantly expanded our understanding of species-specific nutritional adaptations. These adaptations involve intricate regulatory networks integrating metabolic pathways, gut microbiota interactions, and genetic responses, shaping dietary strategies across taxa.

Despite substantial progress, many aspects of nutritional and metabolic adaptations remain unexplored, particularly species differences in digestive efficiency, metabolic flexibility, and resistance to diet-related diseases. Investigating these mechanisms is essential for optimizing animal health, developing sustainable feeding strategies, and uncovering novel therapeutic approaches for metabolic disorders such as diabetes, obesity, osteoporosis, and neurodegenerative diseases. This Research Topic aims to foster interdisciplinary research bridging physiology, biochemistry, endocrinology, immunology, and microbiology, providing insights into the complex interplay between diet, metabolism, and health in both domestic and wild animals well as animals used as models in nutrition research.

This Research Topic welcomes studies that enhance our understanding of the molecular and physiological mechanisms underlying nutritional and metabolic adaptations in animals. By integrating comparative, mechanistic, and translational approaches, we aim to elucidate the complex interactions between diet, metabolism, and health across species.

Potential areas of interest include, but are not limited to:

• Species-specific mechanisms of nutrient digestion, absorption, and metabolism
• Dietary regulation of metabolic pathways and energy homeostasis
• Interactions between diet, gut microbiota, and host physiology
• Nutritional strategies for preventing metabolic disorders (e.g., obesity, diabetes)
• Evolutionary and comparative perspectives on metabolic adaptations

We encourage the submission of different article types to this collection, especially reviews, mini-reviews, and original research papers.

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Nutritional and Metabolic Adaptations in Animals: Physiological and Molecular Perspectives