Xie Zhao-Hui
Department of Biology, Dezhou University, Dezhou 253023, China.
Yi Chuan. 2010 Feb;32(2):122-8. doi: 10.3724/sp.j.1005.2010.00122.
Natural antisense transcripts (NATs) are coding or non-coding RNAs with sequence complementarity to other transcripts (sense transcripts). These RNAs could potentially regulate the expression of their sense partner(s) at either the transcriptional or post-transcriptional level through a variety of biological mechanisms, such as transcription interference, RNA masking, dsRNA-dependent mechanisms, and chromatin remodelling (modification). We speculated that both of sense and antisense transcripts may be sliced to form small RNAs, which is also an important mechanism for NATs to regulate gene expression, such as rasiRNAs in "ping-pong". Experimental and computational analyses have demonstrated the wide-spread occurrence of NATs in a wide range of species. Here, we reviewed the current understanding of NATs function and its mechanistic basis. We hypothesized that the regulation of antisense transcription and small RNAs were derived from NATs.
天然反义转录本（NATs）是与其他转录本（正义转录本）具有序列互补性的编码或非编码RNA。这些RNA可能通过多种生物学机制，如转录干扰、RNA掩盖、双链RNA依赖性机制和染色质重塑（修饰），在转录或转录后水平调节其正义伙伴的表达。我们推测正义和反义转录本都可能被切割形成小RNA，这也是NATs调节基因表达的重要机制，如“乒乓”中的rasiRNAs。实验和计算分析表明，NATs在广泛的物种中广泛存在。在此，我们综述了目前对NATs功能及其机制基础的理解。我们假设反义转录和小RNA的调节源自NATs。
