Circular RNAs: splicing's enigma variations - PubMed (original) (raw)

Review

Circular RNAs: splicing's enigma variations

Matthias W Hentze et al. EMBO J. 2013.

Abstract

Nature advance online publication February 27 2013; doi:; DOI: 10.1038/nature11993

Nature advance online publication February 27 2013; doi:; DOI: 10.1038/nature11928

Circular (circ)RNAs are to transcriptomics what the famous hidden musical theme is to Elgar’s Enigma Variations: woven into the entire composition but not unambiguously identified or understood by scholars to this day. Now, two studies (Hansen et al, 2013; Memczak et al, 2013) have made substantial progress in both, identifying thousands of circRNAs and beginning to crack the enigma of their cellular function, by demonstrating that the circRNAs CiRS-7/CDR1as and SRY function as natural and highly stable sponges for specific microRNAs.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1

Figure 1

Biogenesis and functions of circular RNAs. (A) A gene can be transcribed and spliced into linear and circular RNAs. Note the unique ‘head-to-tail’ splice junctions formed by an acceptor splice site at the 5′ end of an exon and a donor site at the 3′ end of a downstream exon. A demonstrated role for circRNAs is to act as a microRNA sponge. (B) Pictograms of additional plausible options for circRNA function. See main text for details.

References

    1. Capel B, Swain A, Nicolis S, Hacker A, Walter M, Koopman P, Goodfellow P, Lovell-Badge R (1993) Circular transcripts of the testis-determining gene Sry in adult mouse testis. Cell 73: 1019–1030 - PubMed
    1. Castelló A, Fischer B, Eichelbaum K, Horos R, Beckmann BM, Strein C, Davey NE, Humphreys DT, Preiss T, Steinmetz LM, Krijgsveld J, Hentze MW (2012) Insights into RNA biology from an atlas of mammalian mRNA-binding proteins. Cell 149: 1393–1406 - PubMed
    1. Chen CY, Sarnow P (1995) Initiation of protein synthesis by the eukaryotic translational apparatus on circular RNAs. Science 268: 415–417 - PubMed
    1. Ebert MS, Sharp PA (2010) Emerging roles for natural microRNA sponges. Curr Biol 20: R858–R861 - PMC - PubMed
    1. Hansen TB, Jensen TI, Clausen BH, Bramsen JB, Finsen B, Damgaard CK, Kjems J (2013) Natural RNA circles function as efficient miRNA sponges. Nature (advance online publication 27 February 2013; doi:; DOI: 10.1038/nature11993) - DOI - PubMed

Publication types

MeSH terms

Substances

LinkOut - more resources