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]