SREBF2 and metabolic disease: Monascus fermented ginseng can reduce the ratio of Firmicutes to Bacteroides in the intestinal tract of HFD rats, further to decrease the relative levels of sterol regulatory element binding protein-2 (SREBP-2) and hydroxymethylglutaryl-CoA (HMG-CoA) reductase, and increase the expression of CYP7A1 to improve lipid level of total cholesterol (TC) in blood and liver against metabolic disorder (Zhao et al., 2021).