CircPro: an integrated tool for the identification of circRNAs with protein-coding potential

Circular RNAs (circRNAs), a novel class of endogenous RNAs, are widespread in eukaryotic cells. Emerging roles in diverse biological processes suggest that circRNA is a promising key player in RNA world. Most circRNAs are generated through back-splicing of pre-mRNAs, forming a covalently closed loop structure with no 5' caps or 3' polyadenylated tails. In addition, most circRNAs were not associated with translating ribosomes, therefore, circRNAs were deemed to be noncoding. However, the latest research findings revealed that some circRNAs could generate proteins in vivo, which expands the landscape of transcriptome and proteome. To gain insights into the new area of circRNA translation, we introduce an integrated tool capable of detecting circRNAs with protein-coding potential from high-throughput sequencing data.