Small RNAs—Game Changers of Plant Defense System Against Bacteria

Biotic stress is one of the major issues plants had faced during their evolution. To cope with a wide range of pathogens they evolved distinct molecular pathways like small RNA-mediated gene silencing. Small RNAs (sRNAs) are non-coding RNAs with a nucleotide (nt) size of 20–30. Based on their biogenesis pathways, they are broadly classified into miRNA, siRNA, circRNA, and tRFs. These small RNAs have the ability to control the expression of certain genes in response to biotic stress via post-transcriptional or RNA silencing. This review focuses on small RNAs, their biogenesis pathway, and their regulatory role in plant resistance against bacterial pathogens.