PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Gabriela Santos-Rodriguez
AU  - Irina Voineagu
AU  - Robert J Weatheritt
TI  - Evolutionary dynamics of circular RNAs in primates
AID  - 10.1101/2021.05.01.442284
DP  - 2021 Jan 01
TA  - bioRxiv
PG  - 2021.05.01.442284
4099  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2021/05/01/2021.05.01.442284.short
4100  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2021/05/01/2021.05.01.442284.full
AB  - Many primate genes produce non-coding circular RNAs (circRNAs). However, the extent of circRNA conservation between closely related species remains unclear. By comparing tissue-specific transcriptomes across over 70 million years of primate evolution, we identify that within 3 million years circRNA expression profiles diverged such that they are more related to species identity than organ type. However, our analysis also revealed a subset of circRNAs with conserved neural expression across tens of millions of years of evolution. These circRNAs are defined by an extended downstream intron that has shown dramatic lengthening during evolution due to the insertion of novel retrotransposons. Our work provides comparative analyses of the mechanisms promoting circRNAs to generate increased transcriptomic complexity in primates.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.