circRNAwrap

circRNAwrap identifies circular RNAs (circRNAs) from RNA-Seq data and predicts their exon composition and abundance to support study of backsplicing-derived circRNA expression and regulation.

Key Features:

• Identification: Detects endogenous circular transcripts formed by backsplicing from RNA-Seq data by leveraging existing algorithms and incorporating novel methodologies to improve detection accuracy.
• Transcript Prediction: Predicts the exon composition of circRNAs to infer their transcript structures.
• Abundance Estimation: Estimates circRNA expression levels across samples from RNA-Seq data for quantitative comparison.

Scientific Applications:

• Genome-wide expression and regulation studies: Enables genome-wide analysis of circRNA expression and regulatory patterns using RNA-Seq-derived identifications and quantifications.
• Functional role investigation: Facilitates exploration of circRNA roles in cellular processes and disease mechanisms by providing predicted structures and abundance estimates.
• Experimental validation support: Supplies predicted circRNA structures and abundance measurements suitable for experimental validation.

Methodology:

Evaluation of existing circRNA detection tools using collected and simulated RNA-Seq datasets identified gaps that guided development of an improved workflow incorporating existing algorithms and novel methodologies.