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Fig. 2 | Journal of Ovarian Research

Fig. 2

From: Circular RNAs: biogenesis, expression and their potential roles in reproduction

Fig. 2

The putative function of circRNAs. In this figure, exons are represented by different coloured rectangles and introns are represented by black lines. Five potentially biological functions of circRNAs are suggested. 1) To promote transcription of their parental genes: the ciRNAs and EIciRNAs are located in the nucleus and involved in their parental gene expression. 2) mRNA trap: the biogenesis of circRNAs is generally accompanied with transcription of their parental genes. Therefore, circRNAs may competitively influence the biogenesis and processing of mRNA. 3) miRNA sponge: some circRNAs have conserved binding sites for miRNAs. Through competitively binding with miRNAs, these circRNAs can block the binding between miRNAs and their target mRNAs, subsequently prohibiting the repressive effects of miRNAs on the target protein translation. 4) RNA binding protein (RBP) sponge: to regulate the function of RBPs, some circRNAs can interact with RBPs, such as Argonaute (Ago), polymerase II, muscleblind, etc. 5) to encode protein: some circRNAs contain internal ribosome entry site which can bind with ribosomes (shown by two tightly-attached ellipses). Therefore, these circRNAs may have an ability to encode proteins

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