{"id":237290,"date":"2026-05-16T18:18:24","date_gmt":"2026-05-16T23:18:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2026\/05\/hidden-small-rna-in-cholera-bacterium-helps-determine-whether-it-can-infect-humans"},"modified":"2026-05-16T18:18:24","modified_gmt":"2026-05-16T23:18:24","slug":"hidden-small-rna-in-cholera-bacterium-helps-determine-whether-it-can-infect-humans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2026\/05\/hidden-small-rna-in-cholera-bacterium-helps-determine-whether-it-can-infect-humans","title":{"rendered":"Hidden small RNA in cholera bacterium helps determine whether it can infect humans"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a class=\"aligncenter blog-photo\" href=\"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog.images\/hidden-small-rna-in-cholera-bacterium-helps-determine-whether-it-can-infect-humans2.jpg\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Scientists from St. Jude Children\u2019s Research Hospital have uncovered what gives Vibrio cholerae, the bacterium that causes cholera, the ability to colonize the human gut. The researchers found that a small RNA embedded within another gene controls where cholera thrives, a discovery that could improve prediction and prevention strategies. The study is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41467-026-73137-6\" target=\"_blank\">published<\/a> in the journal Nature Communications.<\/p>\n<p>Infectious diseases remain the leading cause of pediatric mortality worldwide. V. cholerae causes a severe diarrheal disease leading to more than 143,000 deaths and millions of cases each year, primarily affecting young children. While there are many strains of the V. cholerae species, only one can infect humans. The reason for this has been unclear for 50 years, hampering efforts to predict and prevent outbreaks.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor decades, we\u2019ve been trying to understand what allows cholera to infect humans,\u201d said corresponding author Salvador Almagro-Moreno, Ph.D., St. Jude Department of Host-Microbe Interactions. \u201cThe answer was right in front of us the whole time\u2014this small RNA hiding inside another gene is the real culprit.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Scientists from St. Jude Children\u2019s Research Hospital have uncovered what gives Vibrio cholerae, the bacterium that causes cholera, the ability to colonize the human gut. The researchers found that a small RNA embedded within another gene controls where cholera thrives, a discovery that could improve prediction and prevention strategies. The study is published in the [\u2026]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":662,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-237290","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-biotech-medical"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237290","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/662"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=237290"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237290\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=237290"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=237290"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=237290"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}