circRNAprofiler – an R-based computational framework for the downstream analysis of circular RNAs

Circular RNAs (circRNAs) are a newly appreciated class of non-coding RNA molecules. Numerous tools have been developed for the detection of circRNAs, however computational tools to perform downstream functional analysis of circRNAs are scarce.

Amsterdam UMC researchers have developed circRNAprofiler, an R-based computational framework that runs after circRNAs have been identified. It allows to combine circRNAs detected by multiple publicly available annotation-based circRNA detection tools and to analyze their expression, genomic context, evolutionary conservation, biogenesis and putative functions.

Schematic representation of the circRNA analysis workflow implemented by circRNAprofiler

The grey boxes represent the 15 modules described in the text with the main R-functions reported in italics. The different type of sequences that can be selected are depicted in the dashed box. BSJ, Back-Spliced Junction

Overall, the circRNA analysis workflow implemented by circRNAprofiler is highly automated and customizable, and the results of the analyses can be used as starting point for further investigation in the role of specific circRNAs in any physiological or pathological condition.

Availability – Project home page: https://github.com/Aufiero/circRNAprofiler.