Circular RNAs (circRNAs) are a class of single-stranded, non-coding RNAs which form a covalently closed loop. It was first reported as viroids in plants and was later detected in human cells in 1979. In a circular RNA molecule, unlike a linear RNA, the 5′ and 3′ ends have been joined together. The unique loop structure of circRNAs provides them with a longer half-life and more resistance to RNase R than linear RNAs. CircRNAs are produced by non-canonical splicing process which is known as “backsplicing”. In the process of backsplicing, a downstream splice donor is joined to an upstream splice acceptor. According to the sequence composition of circRNAs, they are categorized into various types, such as exonic circRNA, exon-intron circRNA (EIciRNA), and circular intronic RNA (ciRNA) etc.
Many studies have revealed that circRNAs have unique expression signatures and contribute to biological processes through a variety of functions, for example, acting as transcriptional regulators/microRNA(miRNA) sponges/protein templates, and serving as protein decoys, scaffolds and recruiters etc. The unique structure and broad expression of circRNAs makes them potential candidates for diagnostic biomarkers and therapeutic targets of a variety of diseases, such as cancers, cardiovascular diseases, neurological disorders and autoimmune diseases etc. More recently, an increasing number of investigations have been involved in the field of circRNA.
The gain-of-function and loss-of-function are approaches to investigate the roles and mechanisms of circRNAs. Cell lines stably overexpressing circRNAs are useful tools for the functional characterization of circRNAs of interest. Creative Biogene has excellent platforms for providing products and services in the field of stable cell lines and circRNAs. So far, we have developed a large number of cell lines stably overexpressing various types of genes, premade circRNA molecules and expression vectors, with more under development. Now Creative Biogene is providing a comprehensive portfolio of circRNA stable cell lines from circRNA design, vector construction, to stable cell line generation and validation. All our circRNA stable cell lines are fully validated by sequencing and real-time qPCR to make sure the sequence accuracy and high expression level.