 Parabacteroids distusonus, P distusonus, part of the gut microbiome, was reported to play a role in diabetes, colorectal cancer and inflammatory bowel disease. Here the authors report that P distusonus ameliorates liver fibrosis in studies with male mice, potentially via altered bile acid metabolism and hepatocyte pyroptosis. This article was offered by Chi Jiao, Manian Dai, Ruoyu Huang and others.