Fig. 1

The potential biogenetic and functional mechanisms of circRNAs. Schematic showing the biogenesis of circRNAs through the noncanonical back-splicing process and their reported functional mechanisms. CircRNAs are generated by a process called back-splicing from linear pre-messenger RNA. During this process, the 3′ and 5′ ends are ligated to form a covalently closed, uninterrupted loop. Unlike linear RNAs, circRNAs are relatively stable and not easily degraded by endonucleases. CircRNAs function as miRNA sponges, bind RBPs, and are translated due to the existence of an internal ribosome entry site. This schematic was generated at https://app.biorender.com/gallery/illustrations