环形RNA全长组装与定量工具的研究进展

Review on full⁃length assembly and quantification tools of circular RNA

环形RNA是一种广泛存在于真核细胞的内源性RNA,由前体RNA反向剪接而成,不具有5’末端帽子和3’末端poly(A)尾巴,呈封闭环状结构。环形RNA通过miRNA海绵结合等方式参与基因表达调控等许多重要的生物学过程。环形RNA可以通过可变剪接产生不同的环形RNA转录本,因此获取环形RNA转录本内部全长序列信息以及对环形RNA内部可变剪接产物进行精确定量是揭示环形RNA调控功能的前提。生物信息学工具能够高效便捷的处理高通量测序数据,被普遍用来鉴别和分析环形RNA。本文介绍了环形RNA的产生机制以及功能特性,对环形RNA检测、全长序列组装以及定量相关计算工具进行综述。

Circular RNA(circRNA)is a type of endogenous RNA that widely exists in eukaryotic cells.It is formed by back⁃splicing of pre⁃mRNA without 5’cap and 3’poly(A)tail,showing a closed circular structure.CircRNA are involved in many important biological processes such as gene expression regulation through miRNA sponge binding.CircRNA can produce different circular transcripts through alternative splicing.Therefore,obtaining the full⁃length sequence information of circRNA transcripts and accurately quantifying the internal alternative splicing products of circRNA are the premise to reveal the regulatory function of circRNA.Bioinformatics tools can handle high⁃throughput sequencing data efficiently and conveniently,and are widely used to identify and analyze circRNA.This paper introduces the generation mechanism and functional characteristics of circRNA,and reviews the computational tools for circRNA detection,full⁃length sequence assembly and quantification.