Stress Responsive Non-protein Coding RNAs

Abstract

Environmental or growth conditions are constantly influencing the development and maturation of organisms. To ensure precise control of gene expression under these normal as well as stress conditions, organisms developed very accurate molecular regulatory mechanisms at transcriptional and posttranscriptional levels. Key roles of small noncoding RNAs (miRNAs and siRNAs) in regulation of gene expression are no longer astonishing us nor are constantly emerging new classes of non-protein coding RNAs (tRNA-derived small RNAs, snoRNA-derived small RNAs, mRNA-derived small RNAs, and long non-coding RNAs). Although there is evidence of involvement of those various classes of noncoding RNAs in response to stress conditions, in most cases, we are still lacking basic information on their targets and interplay between different regulatory pathways. In this review, we focus on ``canonical{''} and ``noncanonical{''} noncoding RNAs and their involvement in abiotic stress responses.