Genome-wide view and characterization of natural antisense transcripts in Cannabis Sativa L

Plant Mol Biol. 2024 Apr 17;114(3):47. doi: 10.1007/s11103-024-01434-z.

ABSTRACT

Natural Antisense Transcripts (NATs) are a kind of complex regulatory RNAs that play crucial roles in gene expression and regulation. However, the NATs in Cannabis Sativa L., a widely economic and medicinal plant rich in cannabinoids remain unknown. In this study, we comprehensively predicted C. sativa NATs genome-wide using strand-specific RNA sequencing (ssRNA-Seq) data, and validated the expression profiles by strand-specific quantitative reverse transcription PCR (ssRT-qPCR). Consequently, a total of 307 NATs were predicted in C. sativa, including 104 cis- and 203 trans- NATs. Functional enrichment analysis demonstrated the potential involvement of the C. sativa NATs in DNA polymerase activity, RNA-DNA hybrid ribonuclease activity, and nucleic acid binding. Finally, 18 cis- and 376 trans- NAT-ST pairs were predicted to produce 621 cis- and 5,679 trans- small interfering RNA (nat-siRNAs), respectively. These nat-siRNAs were potentially involved in the biosynthesis of cannabinoids and cellulose. All these results will shed light on the regulation of NATs and nat-siRNAs in C. sativa.

PMID:38632206 | DOI:10.1007/s11103-024-01434-z