Natural antisense short interfering RNA

Natural antisense short interfering RNA (natsiRNA) is a type of siRNA. They are endogenous RNA regulators which are between 21 and 24 nucleotides in length, and are generated from complementary mRNA transcripts which are further processed into siRNA.^[1]

natsiRNA has been implicated in several developmental and response mechanisms in plants, such as pathogen resistance,^[2] salt tolerance ^[3] and cell wall biosynthesis.^[4] natsiRNA has also been shown to alter gene expression in plants responding to environmental stressors.^[5]