An intriguing RNA species--perspectives of circularized RNA.
Circular RNAs (circRNAs), a kind of covalently closed RNA molecule, were used to be considered a type of by-products of mis-splicing events and were discovered sporadically due to the technological limits in the early years. With the great technological progress such as high-throughput next-generation sequencing, numerous circRNAs have recently been detected in many species. CircRNAs were expressed in a spatio-temporally specific manner, suggesting their regulatory functional potentials were overlooked previously. Intriguingly, some circRNAs were indeed found with critical physiological functions in certain circumstances. CircRNAs have a more stable molecular structure that can resist to exoribonuclease comparing to those linear ones, and their molecular functions include microRNA sponge, regulatory roles in transcription, mRNA traps that compete with linear splicing, templates for translation and possibly other presently unknown roles. Here, we review the discovery and characterization of circRNAs, the origination and formation mechanism, the physiological functions and the molecular roles, along with the methods for detection of circRNAs. We further look into the future and propose key questions to be answered for these magical RNA molecules.
MOE Key Laboratory of Contemporary Anthropology & State Key Laboratory of Genetics Engineering, Collaborative Innovation Center of Genetics and Development, School of Life Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200433, China.
Ting
T
Shen
MOE Key Laboratory of Contemporary Anthropology & State Key Laboratory of Genetics Engineering, Collaborative Innovation Center of Genetics and Development, School of Life Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200433, China.
Miao
M
Han
MOE Key Laboratory of Contemporary Anthropology & State Key Laboratory of Genetics Engineering, Collaborative Innovation Center of Genetics and Development, School of Life Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200433, China.
Gang
G
Wei
MOE Key Laboratory of Contemporary Anthropology & State Key Laboratory of Genetics Engineering, Collaborative Innovation Center of Genetics and Development, School of Life Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200433, China. tingni@fudan.edu.cn.
Ting
T
Ni
D000818:Animals; D006801:Humans; D012313:RNA / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D000079962:RNA, Circular
D000079962:RNA, Circular; D012313:RNA
back splice; circular RNA; gene regulation