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. 2020 May 15;12(5):1535–1552.

Table 1.

Related properties of circRNAs

Categories Properties
Classification exonic circRNA (ecircRNA)
intronic RNA (ciRNA)
exonic-intronic circRNA (EIciRNA)
circRNA produced by circularization of viral RNA genome, tRNA, rRNA and snRNA
antisense circRNA originated from antisense transcripts
Biogenesis exon-skipping or lariat-driven circularization
direct back-splicing or intron-pairing-driven circularization
RNA-binding-protein-driven circularization
direct circularization of lariat introns
circularization driven by tRNA splicing
circularization driven by rRNA splicing
Features high abundance and incredible diversity
high stability
evolutionary conservation
tissue-specific expression
specificity related with developmental-stage or -age expression
competing endogenous RNAs or miRNA mediated activities
ecircRNA mainly exists in the cytoplasm or exosomes, while EIciRNA and ciRNA mainly exist in the nucleus
Biofunctions miRNA sponges
RBP sponges
gene transcription and expression regulators
protein/peptide translators
others