Related Experiment Video
Updated: Feb 15, 2026

08:25
Identification of Circular RNAs using RNA Sequencing
Published on: November 14, 2019
12.8K
Biclustering of transcriptome sequencing data reveals human tissue-specific circular RNAs
Yu-Chen Liu1, Yu-Jung Chiu2, Jian-Rong Li2
1Institute of Bioinformatics and Systems Biology, National Chiao Tung University, Hsinchu, 300, Taiwan.
BMC Genomics
|January 25, 2018
Summary
Researchers identified thousands of novel tissue-specific circular RNAs (circRNAs) by analyzing transcriptome data. These circRNAs, not random byproducts, have functional roles and can serve as potential diagnostic biomarkers.
Area of Science:
- Genomics
- Molecular Biology
- Bioinformatics
Background:
- Circular RNAs (circRNAs) exhibit tissue-specific expression patterns.
- Global identification of human tissue-specific circRNAs is essential for understanding their function.
- Tissue-specific circRNAs hold potential as diagnostic biomarkers.
Purpose of the Study:
- To identify novel human tissue-specific circRNAs.
- To investigate the functional significance of circRNA expression.
- To discover potential diagnostic biomarkers from circRNA expression profiles.
Main Methods:
- Analyzed 465 public transcriptome sequencing samples.
- Identified circRNA back-splicing junctions.
- Normalized junction reads by read length and sequence depth.
- Applied biclustering algorithm to generate 66 models for enriched circRNAs.
Main Results:
- Discovered thousands of newly identified human tissue-specific circRNAs.
- Demonstrated that circRNA expression is not due to random splicing errors.
- Identified circRNAs enriched in the circulating system.
Conclusions:
- CircRNA expression suggests specific molecular functional roles.
- Tissue-specific and circulating circRNAs are promising candidates for diagnostic biomarkers.
- This study expands the landscape of known human circRNAs and their potential applications.
Related Concept Videos
siRNA - Small Interfering RNAs
18.8K
Small interfering RNAs, or siRNAs, are short regulatory RNA molecules that can silence genes post-transcriptionally, as well as the transcriptional level in some cases. siRNAs are important for protecting cells against viral infections and silencing transposable genetic elements.
In the cytoplasm, siRNA is processed from a double-stranded RNA, which comes from either endogenous DNA transcription or exogenous sources like a virus. This double-stranded RNA is then cleaved by the...
In the cytoplasm, siRNA is processed from a double-stranded RNA, which comes from either endogenous DNA transcription or exogenous sources like a virus. This double-stranded RNA is then cleaved by the...
18.8K
lncRNA - Long Non-coding RNAs
10.0K
In humans, more than 80% of the genome gets transcribed. However, only around 2% of the genome codes for proteins. The remaining part produces non-coding RNAs which includes ribosomal RNAs, transfer RNAs, telomerase RNAs, and regulatory RNAs, among other types. A large number of regulatory non-coding RNAs have been classified into two groups depending upon their length – small non-coding RNAs, such as microRNA, which are less than 200 nucleotides in length, and long non-coding RNA...
10.0K
lncRNA - Long Non-coding RNAs
3.7K
3.7K
piRNA - Piwi-interacting RNAs
7.7K
PIWI-interacting RNAs, or piRNAs, are the most abundant short non-coding RNAs. More than 20,000 genes have been found in humans that code for piRNAs while only 2000 genes have been found for miRNAs. piRNAs can act at the transcriptional and post-transcriptional levels and have a vital role in silencing transposable elements present in germ cells. They are also involved in epigenetic silencing and activation. Previously, they were thought to function only in germ cells but new evidence suggests...
7.7K
Small interfering RNAs (siRNA)
4.8K
4.8K
Deformation in a Circular Shaft
948
One of the distinctive characteristics of circular shafts is their ability to maintain their cross-sectional integrity under torsion. In other words, each cross-section continues to exist as a flat, unaltered entity, simply rotating like a solid, rigid slab. To understand the distribution of shearing stress within such a shaft, consider a cylindrical section inside this circular shaft. This section has a length of L and a radius of R, with one end fixed. The radius of the cylindrical section is...
948

