van Rossum Daniëlle, Verheijen Bert M, Pasterkamp R Jeroen
Department of Translational Neuroscience, Brain Center Rudolf Magnus, University Medical Center Utrecht Utrecht, Netherlands.
Department of Translational Neuroscience, Brain Center Rudolf Magnus, University Medical Center UtrechtUtrecht, Netherlands; Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery, Brain Center Rudolf Magnus, University Medical Center UtrechtUtrecht, Netherlands.
Front Mol Neurosci. 2016 Aug 26;9:74. doi: 10.3389/fnmol.2016.00074. eCollection 2016.
Circular RNAs (circRNAs) are highly stable, circularized long non-coding RNAs. circRNAs are conserved across species and appear to be specifically enriched in the nervous system. Recent studies show that many circRNAs are expressed in a tissue- and developmental-stage-specific manner, reveal a striking regulation of circRNAs during neuronal development, and detect their presence at synaptic sites. The exact functions of circRNAs remain poorly understood, but evidence from analysis of some circRNA molecules suggests that they could substantially contribute to the regulation of gene expression, particularly in architecturally complex and polarized cells such as neurons. Emerging evidence also indicates that circRNAs are involved in the development and progression of various neurological disorders. In this review, we summarize the molecular characteristics of circRNAs and discuss their proposed functions and mechanism-of-action in developing neurons.
环状RNA（circRNAs）是高度稳定的、环化的长链非编码RNA。circRNAs在物种间保守，且似乎在神经系统中特异性富集。最近的研究表明，许多circRNAs以组织和发育阶段特异性的方式表达，揭示了circRNAs在神经元发育过程中的显著调控，并在突触部位检测到它们的存在。circRNAs的确切功能仍知之甚少，但对一些circRNA分子的分析证据表明，它们可能对基因表达的调控有重大贡献，特别是在结构复杂和极化的细胞如神经元中。新出现的证据还表明，circRNAs参与了各种神经系统疾病的发生和发展。在这篇综述中，我们总结了circRNAs的分子特征，并讨论了它们在发育中的神经元中假定的功能和作用机制。
