title: The complexity of the translation ability of circRNAs.
abstract: Circular RNAs (circRNAs) are a new class of long non-coding RNAs that play a potential role in gene expression regulation, acting as efficient microRNAs sponges. The latest surprise concerning circRNAs is that we now know that they can serve as transcriptional activators in human cells, indicating that circRNAs are involved in important regulatory tasks. Recently, new insight has been gained about the coding potential of circular viroid RNAs, as well as the presence of Internal Ribosomal Entry Sites (IRES) allowing the formation of peptides or proteins from circular RNA. Here, we discuss the current state of our knowledge regarding evidence supporting the hypothesis that circRNAs serve as protein-coding sequences in vitro and in vivo. Also, we remark on the difficulties of their identification and highlight some tools currently available for exploring the coding potential of circRNA.
authors.affiliation: Laboratorio de Investigación en Genómica, Genética y Bioinformática, Torre de Hemato-Oncología, 4to Piso, Sección 2, Hospital Infantil de México, Federico Gómez, Mexico.
authors.forename: Javier T
authors.initials: JT
authors.lastname: Granados-Riveron
authors.affiliation: Laboratorio de Investigación en Genómica, Genética y Bioinformática, Torre de Hemato-Oncología, 4to Piso, Sección 2, Hospital Infantil de México, Federico Gómez, Mexico. Electronic address: guillaqui@himfg.edu.mx.
authors.forename: Guillermo
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Aquino-Jarquin
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001419:Bacteria / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D019295:Computational Biology; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D006801:Humans; D000067556:Internal Ribosome Entry Sites; D035683:MicroRNAs / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D009690:Nucleic Acid Conformation; D014176:Protein Biosynthesis; D012313:RNA / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D022821:RNA Splice Sites; D012326:RNA Splicing; D000079962:RNA, Circular; D014780:Viruses / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D000067556:Internal Ribosome Entry Sites; D035683:MicroRNAs; D022821:RNA Splice Sites; D000079962:RNA, Circular; D012313:RNA
keywords: CircRNA-derived protein; Circular RNAs; IRES sequences; MicroRNA sponges; Translation