Fig. 1From: Natural antisense RNAs as mRNA regulatory elements in bacteria: a review on function and applicationsGene silencing by natural antisense RNAs in bacteria. A – Cis-antisense RNAs (cis-asRNAs) are encoded with high degrees of complementarity to the target mRNA. B – Trans-antisense RNAs (trans-asRNAs) are encoded with limited complementarity to the target mRNA. In some species, trans-asRNAs require an RNA chaperone (Hfq) to facilitate binding to the target mRNA. Generally, in either case, once the asRNA is bound to the target mRNA, translation of the target gene is silenced by inhibition of the ribosome binding to the target mRNA (1); by induced RNase degradation of the asRNA–mRNA hybrid (2); or by a combination of the two processesBack to article page