PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Martina Dori
AU  - Leila Haj Abdullah Alieh
AU  - Daniel Cavalli
AU  - Simone Massalini
AU  - Mathias Lesche
AU  - Andreas Dahl
AU  - Federico Calegari
TI  - Sequence and expression levels of circular RNAs in progenitor cell types during mouse corticogenesis
AID  - 10.26508/lsa.201900354
DP  - 2019 Apr 01
TA  - Life Science Alliance
PG  - e201900354
VI  - 2
IP  - 2
4099  - https://www.life-science-alliance.org/content/2/2/e201900354.short
4100  - https://www.life-science-alliance.org/content/2/2/e201900354.full
SO  - Life Sci. Alliance2019 Apr 01; 2
AB  - Circular (circ) RNAs have recently emerged as a novel class of transcripts whose identification and function remain elusive. Among many tissues and species, the mammalian brain is the organ in which circRNAs are more abundant and first evidence of their functional significance started to emerge. Yet, even within this well-studied organ, annotation of circRNAs remains fragmentary, their sequence is unknown, and their expression in specific cell types was never investigated. Overcoming these limitations, here we provide the first comprehensive identification of circRNAs and assessment of their expression patterns in proliferating neural stem cells, neurogenic progenitors, and newborn neurons of the developing mouse cortex. Extending the current knowledge about the diversity of this class of transcripts by the identification of nearly 4,000 new circRNAs, our study is the first to provide the full sequence information and expression patterns of circRNAs in cell types representing the lineage of neurogenic commitment. We further exploited our data by evaluating the coding potential, evolutionary conservation, and biogenesis of circRNAs that we found to arise from a specific subclass of linear mRNAs. Our study provides the arising field of circRNA biology with a powerful new resource to address the complexity and potential biological significance of this new class of transcripts.