Cholera Decoded

Introduction

Biologists have identified a biochemical mechanism that helps make cholera toxin so deadly, often resulting in life-threatening diarrhoea that causes people to lose as much as half of their body fluids in a single day.

The cholera toxin, produced by Vibrio cholerae bacterium, reduces the delivery of proteins to molecular junctions that normally act like Velcro to hold intestinal cells together in the outer lining of the gut. The finding could help develop new therapies against the disease that affects people exposed to poor sanitation.

Source

Down To Earth, October 2013