The ' lifestyle' of bile acid 7α-dehydroxylating bacteria: comparative genomics, metatranscriptomic, and bile acid metabolomics analysis of a defined microbial community in gnotobiotic mice.

The formation of secondary bile acids by gut microbes is a current topic of considerable biomedical interest. However, a detailed understanding of the biology of anaerobic bacteria in the genus that are capable of generating secondary bile acids is lacking. We therefore sought to determine the transcriptional responses of two prominent secondary bile acid producing bacteria, and to bile salts () and the cecal environment of gnotobiotic mice.