Small non-coding RNAs (sRNAs) are key regulators of post-transcriptional gene expression in bacteria. Despite the identification of hundreds of bacterial sRNAs, their roles on bacterial physiology and virulence remain largely unknown, as is the case of bacteria of the Burkholderia cepacia complex (Bcc). Bcc is a group of opportunistic pathogens with relatively large genomes that can cause lethal lung infections amongst cystic fibrosis (CF) patients. In a recent paper published in the journal Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology by the IBB members Tiago Pita, Joana R. Feliciano, and Jorge H. Leitão, the authors describe the use of Caenorhabditis elegans as an infection model to find sRNAs expressed by the CF strain B. cenocepacia J2315 when infecting the host by the epidemic. A total of 108 new and 31 previously described sRNAs with a predicted Rho independent terminator were identified, most of them located on chromosome 1. RIT11b, a sRNA downregulated under C. elegans infection conditions, was shown to directly affect B. cenocepacia virulence, biofilm formation, and swimming motility. RIT11b overexpression reduced the expression of the direct targets dusA and pyrC, involved in biofilm formation, epithelial cell adherence, and chronic infections in other organisms. The in vitro direct interaction of RIT11b with the dusA and pyrC messengers was demonstrated by electrophoretic mobility shift assays. To the best of the authors´ knowledge this is the first report on the functional characterization of a sRNA directly involved in B. cenocepacia virulence. See more.