Here, the authors show that bile salt hydrolase activity is common among human gut bacterial isolates spanning seven major phyla and identify strains capable of directly dehydrogenating conjugated bile acids via hydroxysteroid dehydrogenases to produce conjugated secondary bile acids, challenging the notion that deconjugation is a prerequisite for further bile acid modifications.
- Lauren N. Lucas
- Jillella Mallikarjun
- Daniel Amador-Noguez
