In-Depth Analysis Reveals Production of Circular RNAs from Non-Coding Sequences

The sequencing of total RNA depleted for ribosomal sequences remains the method of choice for the study of circRNAs. Our objective was to characterize non-canonical circRNAs, namely not originating from back splicing and circRNA produced by non-coding genes. To this end, we analyzed a dataset from porcine testis known to contain about 100 intron-derived circRNAs. Labelling reads containing a circular junction and originating from back splicing provided information on the very small contribution of long non-coding genes to the production of canonical circRNAs. Analyses of the other reads revealed two origins for non-canonical circRNAs: (1) Intronic sequences for lariat-derived intronic circRNAs and intron circles, (2) Mono-exonic genes (mostly non-coding) for either a new type of circRNA (including only part of the exon: sub-exonic circRNAs) or, even more rarely, mono-exonic canonical circRNAs. The most complex set of sub-exonic circRNAs was produced by RNase_MRP (ribozyme RNA). We specifically investigated the intronic circRNA of ATXN2L, which is probably an independently transcribed sisRNA (stable intronic sequence RNA). We may be witnessing the emergence of a new non-coding gene in the porcine genome. Our results are evidence that most non-canonical circRNAs originate from non-coding sequences.