环状RNA在病毒与宿主相互作用中功能的研究进展

Research progress on the function of circular RNA in the interaction between virus and host

环状RNA(circular RNA,circRNA)是近些年才发现的一类具有独特闭合环状结构的非编码RNA,由前体mRNA反向剪接产生。近年来的研究表明circRNA具备多样化的生物学功能,例如吸附微小RNA、影响RNA线性剪接和作为翻译的模板等,其表达及功能异常与多种疾病的发生发展密切相关。本文在介绍circRNA的生物学属性和功能的基础之上,综述了病毒和宿主编码circRNA的表达与功能的研究进展,以期为理解病毒与宿主间复杂的相互作用提供新的视角。

Circular RNAs(circRNAs),a novel type of non-coding RNAs(ncRNAs),are generated from pre-mRNA by covalently backsplicing of a downstream 5′splice donor site onto an upstream 3′splice acceptor site.Recent studies have shown that circRNAs have diverse biological functions,such as acting as a miRNA sponge to repress miRNA function,participating in splicing of target genes and translating genes into protein.These functions are involved in pathogenesis and progression of many diseases,including viral infection.In this review,we provided a brief introduction on the biological characteristics and functions of circRNAs,and summarized recent findings on the emerging roles of circRNA in viral infections,which might provide a new angle to study pathogenic characteristics and to understand the virus-host interaction mechanism.