Alterations in the gut microbiome have been associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD), but the underlying mechanisms are not fully understood. A study published in Cell now identifies a group of gut bacteria that can metabolize cholesterol and are associated with lower plasma cholesterol levels. Thus, these gut bacteria could have potential benefits for lipid homeostasis and cardiovascular health.

Next, the investigators showed that Oscillibacter can metabolize cholesterol through multiple pathways. Molecular networking and structural similarity searches using a protein language model identified several candidate genes involved in cholesterol metabolism in Oscillibacter. Functional prediction and in vitro assays of multiple gut Oscillibacter isolates from human samples demonstrated that Oscillibacter have conserved cholesterol-metabolizing capacity, with efficient cholesterol uptake and transformation into cholestenone, glycosylated cholesterol and hydroxycholesterol.