Investigations of Circular RNAs in Plants
A special issue of Life (ISSN 2075-1729). This special issue belongs to the section "Plant Science".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 1 December 2025 | Viewed by 475
Special Issue Editor
Interests: genetic engineeering; plant-based vaccines; plant virus research; agricultural biotechnology
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleague,
Circular RNAs represent a family of single-stranded, endogenous, covalently closed circular RNAs lacking coding potential. Unlike the conventional linear RNAs, the circular structure of these RNAs makes them recalcitrant to RNA exonuclease degradation, suggesting vital functions. circRNAs are generated by the covalent circularization of a 3’ splice donor downstream and a 5’ splice acceptor upstream via backsplicing and are prevalent in eukaryotic cells. circRNAs have been classified as exonic (EcircRNAs), intergenic (circRNAs) and intronic (ciRNAs) based on the locations of their origins from chromosomes. In animals and humans, circRNAs perform critical roles in cellular processes, specifically in the regulation of gene expression, functioning as miRNA sponges, making R-loops, associating with RNA-binding proteins, enabling translation and alternate splicing. Nevertheless, the biological roles of circRNAs in plants are less comprehended, mainly due to the limited number of circRNAs identified using RNA seq technology. Initial studies detected circRNAs in rice and Arabidopsis, while more recent investigations have established their occurrence in various stages of development and in multiple species of plants. Further, plant circRNAs have been shown to respond to both biotic and abiotic environmental stimuli. circRNAs display a ubiquitous expression and abundance in plants. circRNA expression is often based on the type of cell, tissue and stage of development and is particularly inducible under stress conditions. Plant circRNAs have gathered increasing attention for their functions in gene regulation and stress responses. The widespread occurrence of circRNAs has recently been recognized in plants. Presently, 171118 circRNAs, belonging to 20 plant species, have been registered in PlantcircBase 7.0. Several research studies illustrate the major role of circRNAs in plant stress responses, plant growth and development, thus providing a basis for further research into their mechanisms. Previously, circRNAs were considered to be an inimitable class of non-coding RNAs. However, several studies in animal systems provide evidence for the coding ability of certain endogenous circRNAs. In contrast, the coding potential of plant circRNAs is much less explored.
The current Special Issue invites original research articles and reviews on circRNA investigations in plants. In the future, understanding and elucidating the functions of circRNAs in plant development, stress responses and translation mechanisms by virtue of their non-coding/coding abilities would will be a major research topic. Further, the differences in the biogenesis of circRNAs between animals and plants would also be an intriguing research avenue.
Dr. Srividhya Venkataraman
Guest Editor
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Life is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- plant circRNAs
- miRNAs
- stress responses
- abiotic
- biotic
- translation
- gene regulation
- growth
- development
Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue
- Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
- Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
- Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
- External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
- Reprint: MDPI Books provides the opportunity to republish successful Special Issues in book format, both online and in print.
Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.
