Natural antisense transcripts of Trifolium repens dehydrins

The recently described complex nature of some dehydrin-coding sequences in Trifolium repens could explain the considerable variability among transcripts originating from a single gene.1 For some of the sequences the existence of natural antisense transcripts (NAT s), which could form sense-antisense (SAS) pairs, was predicted. The present study demonstrates that cis-natural antisense transcripts of 2 dehydrin types (YnKn and YnSKn) accumulate in white clover plants subjected to treatments with polyethylene glycol (PEG), abscisic acid (ABA), and high salt concentration. The isolated YnKn cis-NAT s mapped to sequence site enriched in alternative start codons. Some of the sense-antisense pairs exhibited inverse expression with differing profiles which depended on the applied stress. A natural antisense transcript coding for an ABC F family protein (a trans-NAT) which shares short sequence homology with YnSKn dehydrin was identified in plants subjected to salt stress. Forthcoming experiments will evaluate the impact of NAT s on transcript abundances, elucidating the role of transcriptional and post-transcriptional interferences in the regulation of dehydrin levels under various abiotic stresses.