Connection found between gut microbiome and cholesterol levels
Jul
4
Scientists have known there to be a connection between cholesterol and the gut for centuries. The study was able to determine that the IsmA gene in gut microbiome of people they studied have 55 to 75 percent less cholesterol in their stool. “Those who have this enzyme activity basically have lower cholesterol,” said Dr. Balkus' co-senior author Ramnik Xavier, core member at the Broad Institute, co-director of the Center for Informatics and Therapeutics at MIT, and investigator at Massachusetts General Hospital.
Balskus and her associate Doug Kenny, a Ph.D. candidate in her department, sequenced the entire genome of the cholesterol-consuming hog bacterium, according to the Harvard Gazette in order to isolate the IsmA gene.
https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2020/06/the-connection-between-microbes-and-cholesterol-levels/