Maggie R. Grant

The paper identifies SpiE as a gut microbial enzyme that, along with SpiR, converts cholesterol to coprostanol, and shows its correlation with stool coprostanol levels and antibiotic impact.

The paper identifies BilV, a novel enzyme that works with BilR to reduce bilirubin to urobilinogen, and shows its distribution varies across vertebrate gut microbiomes.

Gut bacteria encode 5β-reductase, fused 3β-HSDH/Δ5-4 isomerase and Δ6-3-ketosteroid reductase enzymes acting on steroid hormones; two of these genes are enriched in female gut metagenomes.

This study shows that only a limited number of gut bacteria can metabolize D-allulose via AlsE, suggesting its potential as a low-impact sweetener.