The connection between microbes and cholesterol levels

Wednesday, June 24, 2020 - 14:10 in Biology & Nature

There are fewer stars illuminating the universe than there are bacteria in the world. Many species are known, like E. coli, but many more, sometimes referred to as “microbial dark matter,” remain elusive. “We know it’s there,” said Doug Kenny, a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Chemistry in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, “because of how it affects things around it.” Kenny is co-first author on a new study in Cell Host and Microbe that illuminates a bit of that dark matter: a species of gut bacteria that can affect cholesterol levels in humans. “The metabolism of cholesterol by these microbes may play an important role in reducing both intestinal and blood serum cholesterol concentrations, directly impacting human health,” said Emily Balskus, professor of chemistry and chemical biology at Harvard University and co-senior author with Ramnik Xavier, core member at the Broad Institute, co-director of the Center for...

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