植物环状RNA

circRNA in plants

环状RNA(circular RNA,circRNA)是一类由特殊前体mRNA选择性剪接产生的封闭环状(3’-5’共价闭合)非编码RNA(non-coding RNA,ncRNA),普遍存在于真核细胞中。研究表明,植物环状RNA具有高稳定性和保守性以及低表达和时空表达特异性;根据来源植物环状RNA分为内含子、外显子、内含子-外显子、基因间区、反义链五种类型,其中外显子环状RNA的比例相对较大;通过生物信息学预测结合分子生物学验证是当前研究环状RNA的主要方法;通常植物环状RNA作为微小RNA(micro RNA,miRNA)的海绵,调节宿主基因选择性剪接和表达;植物环状RNA广泛参与生长发育以及生物/非生物胁迫应答等生物学过程。本文主要从植物环状RNA的特征、鉴定、功能机制以及参与的生物学过程等几个方面进行综述。

Circular RNA(circRNA)is a kind of closed-loop(3'-5'covalently closed)non-coding RNA(ncRNA)produced by alternative splicing of special precursor mRNA,and is widely found in eukaryotic cells.Researches show that plant circRNAs have high stability,conservation in expression,low expression rate and spatiotemporal expression specificity.According to the origins of plant circRNAs,it can be divided into five types:intron,exon,intron-exon,intergenic region and antisense chain,among which the proportion of exon circRNAs is relatively large.Current methods to research plant circRNAs are based on bioinformatics prediction and molecular biological verification.Usually,plant circRNAs regulate the alternative splicing and expression of host genes as the sponge of microRNA(miRNA).Plant circRNAs are widely involved in biological processes like growth,development and biological/abiotic stress response.In this review,the characteristics,identification,functional mechanisms and biological processes of plant circRNAs are summarized.