circRNA研究现状及展望

circRNA(Circular RNAs)是一类不具有5'末端帽子和3'末端poly(A)尾巴并以共价键形成封闭环状结构的内源性非编码RNA(ncRNA)分子,根据circRNA的剪接来源不同,可分为外显子circRNA(Exonic cirRNAs)、内含子circRNA(cirRNAs)和外显子—内含子circRNA(Exon-in-troncircRNA,EIciRNA).文章从分子特征、研究历程、形成过程、作用机制及其数据库及分析工具等方面对circRNA研究现状和生物学功能进行综述,结果显示随着高通量测序技术的进步和生物信息学的快速发展,越来越多的circRNA被挖掘,其具有稳定性、广泛性、保守性及组织特异性等性质,在基因表达调控中发挥重要作用,可作为一种疾病的生物标志物,在临床诊断和治疗方面具有广阔的应用前景.但circRNA还有许多尚未知悉的重要生物学功能,如其在绒毛生长发育中的作用机理,且在疾病诊断和治疗方面研究不够深入.在今后研究中,应深入研究circRNA及其在疾病诊断、治疗方面及绒毛发育的作用机制,充分了解其更多的生物学功能,使其广泛应用于各研究领域.

Research in circRNA:A review

Circlar RNAs(circRNA)is one kind of endogenous non-coding RNA molecule,which is formed by 5' cap structures and 3' poly(A)tails covalently bonding to form a closed loop structure.It can be divided into exonic cir-RNAs,cirRNAs and exon-in-troncircRNA(EIciRNA)according to the different splicing sources of circular. In this study,the research status and biological functions of circRNA were reviewed from the aspects of molecular characteris-tics,research process,formation process,mechanism of action,database and analytical tools.The review indicated that, with the progress of high-throughput sequencing technology and the rapid development of bioinformatics,more and more circRNA were discovered.circRNA had the characteristics of stability,universality,conservatism and tissue specificity.It played an important role in gene expression regulation.It could be used as a biomarker for certain diseases,and enjoyed broad application prospects in clinical diagnosis and treatment. However,many important biological functions of circ-RNA remained unknown,such as its mechanism of action in villus growth and development.The studies in disease diag-nosis and treatment needed to go deeper.Therefore,in future research,intensive study should be made in circRNA and its mechanism of action in disease diagnosis,treatment and villus development to fully understand its biological functions, so that it can be widely used in various fields.