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Journal ArticleDOI

Circular RNAs Are the Predominant Transcript Isoform from Hundreds of Human Genes in Diverse Cell Types

01 Feb 2012-PLOS ONE (Public Library of Science)-Vol. 7, Iss: 2
TL;DR: By deep sequencing of RNA from a variety of normal and malignant human cells, this work suggests that a non-canonical mode of RNA splicing, resulting in a circular RNA isoform, is a general feature of the gene expression program in human cells.
Abstract: Most human pre-mRNAs are spliced into linear molecules that retain the exon order defined by the genomic sequence. By deep sequencing of RNA from a variety of normal and malignant human cells, we found RNA transcripts from many human genes in which the exons were arranged in a non-canonical order. Statistical estimates and biochemical assays provided strong evidence that a substantial fraction of the spliced transcripts from hundreds of genes are circular RNAs. Our results suggest that a non-canonical mode of RNA splicing, resulting in a circular RNA isoform, is a general feature of the gene expression program in human cells.
Citations
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Journal ArticleDOI
21 Mar 2013-Nature
TL;DR: It is found that a human circRNA, antisense to the cerebellar degeneration-related protein 1 transcript (CDR1as), is densely bound by microRNA (miRNA) effector complexes and harbours 63 conserved binding sites for the ancient miRNA miR-7.
Abstract: Circular RNAs (circRNAs) in animals are an enigmatic class of RNA with unknown function. To explore circRNAs systematically, we sequenced and computationally analysed human, mouse and nematode RNA. We detected thousands of well-expressed, stable circRNAs, often showing tissue/developmental-stage-specific expression. Sequence analysis indicated important regulatory functions for circRNAs. We found that a human circRNA, antisense to the cerebellar degeneration-related protein 1 transcript (CDR1as), is densely bound by microRNA (miRNA) effector complexes and harbours 63 conserved binding sites for the ancient miRNA miR-7. Further analyses indicated that CDR1as functions to bind miR-7 in neuronal tissues. Human CDR1as expression in zebrafish impaired midbrain development, similar to knocking down miR-7, suggesting that CDR1as is a miRNA antagonist with a miRNA-binding capacity ten times higher than any other known transcript. Together, our data provide evidence that circRNAs form a large class of post-transcriptional regulators. Numerous circRNAs form by head-to-tail splicing of exons, suggesting previously unrecognized regulatory potential of coding sequences.

5,922 citations


Cites background or methods from "Circular RNAs Are the Predominant T..."

  • ...We investigated published RNA-seq data from human leukocytes [19], mouse head, brain, and differentiation induced stem cells [11, 25], as well as our own data for human HEK293 cells and the early stages of C....

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  • ...Intrigued by the circularity of the naturally occurring CDR1as RNA, we asked how many other circular RNAs exist in animals, and what are the properties of circular RNAs (circRNAs) that distinguish them from linearRNA?Previouswork had already identified naturally occurring circRNAs in human leukocytes [19], archaea [5], and the Sry transcript expressed in mouse testis [3]....

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  • ...The latter point stresses the advantage of our detection strategy, which in contrast to [19] does not rely on existing exon annotations....

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Journal ArticleDOI
21 Mar 2013-Nature
TL;DR: This study serves as the first functional analysis of a naturally expressed circular RNA, ciRS-7, which contains more than 70 selectively conserved miRNA target sites, and is highly and widely associated with Argonaute proteins in a miR-7-dependent manner.
Abstract: MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are important post-transcriptional regulators of gene expression that act by direct base pairing to target sites within untranslated regions of messenger RNAs. Recently, miRNA activity has been shown to be affected by the presence of miRNA sponge transcripts, the so-called competing endogenous RNA in humans and target mimicry in plants. We previously identified a highly expressed circular RNA (circRNA) in human and mouse brain. Here we show that this circRNA acts as a miR-7 sponge; we term this circular transcript ciRS-7 (circular RNA sponge for miR-7). ciRS-7 contains more than 70 selectively conserved miRNA target sites, and it is highly and widely associated with Argonaute (AGO) proteins in a miR-7-dependent manner. Although the circRNA is completely resistant to miRNA-mediated target destabilization, it strongly suppresses miR-7 activity, resulting in increased levels of miR-7 targets. In the mouse brain, we observe overlapping co-expression of ciRS-7 and miR-7, particularly in neocortical and hippocampal neurons, suggesting a high degree of endogenous interaction. We further show that the testis-specific circRNA, sex-determining region Y (Sry), serves as a miR-138 sponge, suggesting that miRNA sponge effects achieved by circRNA formation are a general phenomenon. This study serves as the first, to our knowledge, functional analysis of a naturally expressed circRNA.

5,885 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
01 Feb 2013-RNA
TL;DR: High-throughput sequencing of libraries prepared from ribosome-depleted RNA with or without digestion with the RNA exonuclease showed that ecircRNAs are abundant, stable, conserved and nonrandom products of RNA splicing that could be involved in control of gene expression.
Abstract: Circular RNAs composed of exonic sequence have been described in a small number of genes. Thought to result from splicing errors, circular RNA species possess no known function. To delineate the universe of endogenous circular RNAs, we performed high-throughput sequencing (RNA-seq) of libraries prepared from ribosome-depleted RNA with or without digestion with the RNA exonuclease, RNase R. We identified >25,000 distinct RNA species in human fibroblasts that contained non-colinear exons (a "backsplice") and were reproducibly enriched by exonuclease degradation of linear RNA. These RNAs were validated as circular RNA (ecircRNA), rather than linear RNA, and were more stable than associated linear mRNAs in vivo. In some cases, the abundance of circular molecules exceeded that of associated linear mRNA by >10-fold. By conservative estimate, we identified ecircRNAs from 14.4% of actively transcribed genes in human fibroblasts. Application of this method to murine testis RNA identified 69 ecircRNAs in precisely orthologous locations to human circular RNAs. Of note, paralogous kinases HIPK2 and HIPK3 produce abundant ecircRNA from their second exon in both humans and mice. Though HIPK3 circular RNAs contain an AUG translation start, it and other ecircRNAs were not bound to ribosomes. Circular RNAs could be degraded by siRNAs and, therefore, may act as competing endogenous RNAs. Bioinformatic analysis revealed shared features of circularized exons, including long bordering introns that contained complementary ALU repeats. These data show that ecircRNAs are abundant, stable, conserved and nonrandom products of RNA splicing that could be involved in control of gene expression.

3,310 citations


Cites background or result from "Circular RNAs Are the Predominant T..."

  • ...These results are consistent with prior studies of other RNA circles (Nigro et al. 1991; Salzman et al. 2012) and suggest that ecircRNAs either undergo nuclear export or are released to the cytoplasm during mitosis, where they enjoy extraordinary stability, likely as a result of resistance to debranching enzymes and RNA exonucleases....

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  • ...While a bioinformatic approach to RNA circle identification has recently been described (Salzman et al. 2012), we reasoned that a biochemical enrichment of nonlinear RNAs might allow for the detection of more rare and diverse circular RNA forms....

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  • ...As was the case for human cells, a high number (646 of 1477) of circles found through a prior bioinformatic analysis (Salzman et al. 2012) of murine brain were identified by CircleSeq of murine testis....

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  • ...Most recently, Brown and colleagues reported the identification of >1000 transcription products favoring circularization (Salzman et al. 2012)....

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  • ...This method appears very sensitive; the 25,166 replicated backsplice events detected by CircleSeq included the large majority (1025 of 1319) of putative circles identified through a previously described bioinformatic approach (Salzman et al. 2012)....

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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This Review describes special events in the lifetimes of lncRNAs — before, during and after transcription — and discusses how these events ultimately shape the unique characteristics and functional roles of lNCRNAs.
Abstract: Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are a diverse class of RNAs that engage in numerous biological processes across every branch of life. Although initially discovered as mRNA-like transcripts that do not encode proteins, recent studies have revealed features of lncRNAs that further distinguish them from mRNAs. In this Review, we describe special events in the lifetimes of lncRNAs - before, during and after transcription - and discuss how these events ultimately shape the unique characteristics and functional roles of lncRNAs.

2,568 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Advances in high-throughput RNA sequencing and circRNA-specific computational tools have driven the development of state-of-the-art approaches for their identification, and novel approaches to functional characterization are emerging.
Abstract: Circular RNAs (circRNAs) are covalently closed, endogenous biomolecules in eukaryotes with tissue-specific and cell-specific expression patterns, whose biogenesis is regulated by specific cis-acting elements and trans-acting factors. Some circRNAs are abundant and evolutionarily conserved, and many circRNAs exert important biological functions by acting as microRNA or protein inhibitors ('sponges'), by regulating protein function or by being translated themselves. Furthermore, circRNAs have been implicated in diseases such as diabetes mellitus, neurological disorders, cardiovascular diseases and cancer. Although the circular nature of these transcripts makes their detection, quantification and functional characterization challenging, recent advances in high-throughput RNA sequencing and circRNA-specific computational tools have driven the development of state-of-the-art approaches for their identification, and novel approaches to functional characterization are emerging.

2,372 citations

References
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Journal ArticleDOI
24 Jun 2010-Nature
TL;DR: It is found that PTENP1 is biologically active as it can regulate cellular levels of PTEN and exert a growth-suppressive role, and this analysis extended to other cancer-related genes that possess pseudogenes, and revealed a non-coding function for mRNAs.
Abstract: The canonical role of messenger RNA (mRNA) is to deliver protein-coding information to sites of protein synthesis. However, given that microRNAs bind to RNAs, we hypothesized that RNAs could possess a regulatory role that relies on their ability to compete for microRNA binding, independently of their protein-coding function. As a model for the protein-coding-independent role of RNAs, we describe the functional relationship between the mRNAs produced by the PTEN tumour suppressor gene and its pseudogene PTENP1 and the critical consequences of this interaction. We find that PTENP1 is biologically active as it can regulate cellular levels of PTEN and exert a growth-suppressive role. We also show that the PTENP1 locus is selectively lost in human cancer. We extended our analysis to other cancer-related genes that possess pseudogenes, such as oncogenic KRAS. We also demonstrate that the transcripts of protein-coding genes such as PTEN are biologically active. These findings attribute a novel biological role to expressed pseudogenes, as they can regulate coding gene expression, and reveal a non-coding function for mRNAs.

2,107 citations


"Circular RNAs Are the Predominant T..." refers background in this paper

  • .... A role in regulating the pool of RNA binding proteins or small RNAs capable of interacting with the conventional linear RNA counterpart is another possibility...

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Journal ArticleDOI
04 Jun 1993-Cell
TL;DR: It is suggested that the circles arise from normal splicing processes as a consequence of the unusual genomic structure surrounding the Sry locus in the mouse.

949 citations


"Circular RNAs Are the Predominant T..." refers background in this paper

  • ...In the adult testes, the RNA exists primarily as a circular product that is predominantly localized to the cytoplasm and is apparently not translated [5,6]....

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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: To the knowledge, this is the first case of circular transcripts being processed from nuclear pre‐mRNA in eukaryotes, and might represent a novel aspect of gene expression and hold some interesting clues about the splicing mechanism.
Abstract: We previously identified novel human ets-1 transcripts in which the normal order of exons is inverted, and demonstrated that although the order of exons is different than in the genomic DNA, splicing of these exons out of order occurs in pairs using genuine splice sites (1). Here we determine the structure of these novel transcripts, showing that they correspond to circular RNA molecules containing only exons in genomic order. These transcripts are stable molecules, localized in the cytoplasmic component of the cells. To our knowledge, this is the first case of circular transcripts being processed from nuclear pre-mRNA in eukaryotes. This new type of transcript might represent a novel aspect of gene expression and hold some interesting clues about the splicing mechanism.

934 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This study provides the first evidence for non‐coding antisense transcripts as functional miRNA targets, and a novel regulatory mechanism involving a positive correlation between mRNA and antisense circular RNA levels.
Abstract: MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are ∼22 nt non-coding RNAs that typically bind to the 3′ UTR of target mRNAs in the cytoplasm, resulting in mRNA destabilization and translational repression. Here, we report that miRNAs can also regulate gene expression by targeting non-coding antisense transcripts in human cells. Specifically, we show that miR-671 directs cleavage of a circular antisense transcript of the Cerebellar Degeneration-Related protein 1 (CDR1) locus in an Ago2-slicer-dependent manner. The resulting downregulation of circular antisense has a concomitant decrease in CDR1 mRNA levels, independently of heterochromatin formation. This study provides the first evidence for non-coding antisense transcripts as functional miRNA targets, and a novel regulatory mechanism involving a positive correlation between mRNA and antisense circular RNA levels.

806 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The results identify novel circular RNA products emanating from the ANRIL locus and suggest causal variants at 9p21.3 regulate INK4/ARF expression and ASVD risk by modulating ANRil expression and/or structure.
Abstract: Human genome-wide association studies have linked single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) on chromosome 9p21.3 near the INK4/ARF (CDKN2a/b) locus with susceptibility to atherosclerotic vascular disease (ASVD). Although this locus encodes three well-characterized tumor suppressors, p16INK4a, p15INK4b, and ARF, the SNPs most strongly associated with ASVD are ∼120 kb from the nearest coding gene within a long non-coding RNA (ncRNA) known as ANRIL (CDKN2BAS). While individuals homozygous for the atherosclerotic risk allele show decreased expression of ANRIL and the coding INK4/ARF transcripts, the mechanism by which such distant genetic variants influence INK4/ARF expression is unknown. Here, using rapid amplification of cDNA ends (RACE) and analysis of next-generation RNA sequencing datasets, we determined the structure and abundance of multiple ANRIL species. Each of these species was present at very low copy numbers in primary and cultured cells; however, only the expression of ANRIL isoforms containing exons proximal to the INK4/ARF locus correlated with the ASVD risk alleles. Surprisingly, RACE also identified transcripts containing non-colinear ANRIL exonic sequences, whose expression also correlated with genotype and INK4/ARF expression. These non-polyadenylated RNAs resisted RNAse R digestion and could be PCR amplified using outward-facing primers, suggesting they represent circular RNA structures that could arise from by-products of mRNA splicing. Next-generation DNA sequencing and splice prediction algorithms identified polymorphisms within the ASVD risk interval that may regulate ANRIL splicing and circular ANRIL (cANRIL) production. These results identify novel circular RNA products emanating from the ANRIL locus and suggest causal variants at 9p21.3 regulate INK4/ARF expression and ASVD risk by modulating ANRIL expression and/or structure.

789 citations


Additional excerpts

  • ...with risk for developing atherosclerosis [16]....

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