The exchange of cytosolic malate for mitochondrial 2-oxoglutarate (alpha-ketoglutarate) mediated by the transport protein SLC25A11 is well-studied in humans, and this exchange reaction, a key part of glucose, lipid, and amino acid metabolism seems likely to occur in chickens. OrthoMCL analysis of genomic sequences indicates that SLC25A11 is well-conserved over diverse species, but no chicken ortholog of the gene has yet been detected. This reaction is thus inferred on the hypothesis that the lack of a chicken SLC25A11 ortholog represents a gap in the chicken genomic sequence.