Compared to primate species, the human diet features increased calories, higher protein levels, and the incorporation of cooking methods. This research sought to examine the variations between the human diet and the chimpanzee diet, which mainly includes fruits and vegetables, aiming to uncover both positive and negative impacts of human eating habits. Data on differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in mouse liver tissues following exposure to a “human cafeteria diet” versus a “chimpanzee diet” were retrieved from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) repository. These DEGs were filtered according to adjusted p-value and fold change thresholds. The selected significant DEGs were then integrated into a protein-protein interaction (PPI) network to build an interactome model. Key hub nodes in this network were identified using metrics such as degree and betweenness centrality. Subsequently, these pivotal genes underwent gene ontology analysis. A set of 150 notable DEGs capable of distinguishing between the two dietary conditions was identified. Among them, fatty acid synthase (FASN), stearoyl-CoA desaturase (SCD), and farnesyl-diphosphate farnesyltransferase 1 (FDFT1) emerged as the most prominent central DEGs. Two prominent biological process categories associated with these key DEGs were “Activation of gene expression by SREBF (SREBP)” and “NR1H2 & NR1H3 regulate gene expression linked to lipogenesis.” Evidence from this analysis points to the human cafeteria diet acting as a promoter of lipogenesis relative to the vegetable-dominant chimpanzee diet. Such human dietary practices were linked to heightened activity of enzymes involved in fatty acid synthesis, coupled with greater cholesterol buildup in tissues.
