LDLR and familial hypercholesterolemia: Since the role of commensal microbiota on hypercholesterolemia and atherothrombosis is unresolved (19, 28), we rederived CONV-R Ldlr−/− mice as GF and kept this mouse line on a sterile gamma-irradiated HFD at GF isolator conditions for 16 weeks to compare them with CONV-R Ldlr−/− control mice (sterility control; see Fig. S1 in the supplemental material).