Novel circRNA discovery in sheep shows evidence of high backsplice junction conservation.

ABSTRACT: Circular RNAs (circRNAs) are covalently closed circular non-coding RNAs. Due to their structure, circRNAs are more stable and have longer half-lives than linear RNAs making them good candidates for disease biomarkers. Despite the scientific relevance of these molecules, the study of circRNAs in non-model organisms is still in its infancy. Here, we analyse total RNA-seq data to identify circRNAs in sheep from peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) and parietal lobe cortex. Out of 2510 and 3403 circRNAs detected in parietal lobe cortex and in PBMCs, a total of 1379 novel circRNAs were discovered. Remarkably, around 63% of all detected circRNAs were found to be completely homologous to a circRNA annotated in human. Functional enrichment analysis was conducted for both tissues based on GO

SUBMITTER: Varela-Martinez E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7801505 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature