Section: Application Domains

Circular RNAs

Participants : Mireille Régnier, Alice Héliou.

Circular RNAs (circRNAs) have been found abundantly in human cells as well as in many other animals. These non-coding RNAs are involved in the regulation of numerous biological processes, and it was recently shown that, as pre-miRNA, they might may actually encode short functional peptides. Our collaborators at Ecole Polytechnique (Biology Dept, LOB) have demonstrated the role of RNA ligase Pab1020 in RNA circularization. The protein Pab1020 is a member of the conserved Rnl3 family of RNA ligases that are predominantly found in hyperthermophiles (archaea, bacteria) and halophiles.

Many computational methods have been proposed to identify and characterize circular RNA from high throughput sequencing data. However, they all suffer from a low specificity, leading to an explosion of false positives. Along with our partners at LOB (Ecole Polytechnique), we develop a robust method for the detection of circRNAs, particularly well-suited to accomodate to analyze sequencing data acquired in extreme environments.