Neurodegenerative diseases (NDs) usually connect with aggregation and molecular interactions of pathological proteins. The integration of accumulative data from clinical and biomedical research will allow for the excavation of pathological proteins and related interactors. It is also important to systematically study their interacting proteins in order to find more related proteins and potential therapeutic targets. Understanding binding regions in protein interactions will help functional proteomics and provide an alternative method for predicting novel interactions. This study integrated data from biomedical research to achieve systematic mining and analysis of pathogenic proteins and their interaction network. A workflow has been built as a solution for the collective information of proteins involved in NDs, related protein-protein interactions (PPIs) and interactive visualizations. It also included protein isoforms and mapped them in a disease-related PPI network to illuminate the impact of alternative splicing on protein binding. The interacting proteins enriched by diseases and biological processes (BPs) revealed possible regulatory modules. A high-resolution network with structural affinity information was generated. Finally, Neurodegenerative Disease Atlas (NDAtlas) was constructed with an interactive and intuitive view of protein docking with 3D molecular graphics beyond the traditional 2D network. NDAtlas is available at http://bis.zju.edu.cn/ndatlas.

Insights into the circular RNA (circRNA) exploration have revealed that they are abundant in eukaryotic transcriptomes. Diverse genomic regions can generate different types of RNA circles, implying their diversity. Covalently closed loop structures elevate the stability of this new type of noncoding RNA. High-throughput sequencing analyses suggest that circRNAs exhibit tissue- and developmental-specific expression, indicating that they may play crucial roles in multiple cellular processes. Strikingly, several circRNAs could function as microRNA sponges and regulate gene transcription, highlighting a new class of important regulators. Here, we review the recent advances in knowledge of endogenous circRNA biogenesis, properties and functions. We further discuss the current findings about circRNAs in human diseases. In plants, the roles of circRNAs remain a mystery. Online resources and bioinformatics identification of circRNAs are essential for the analysis of circRNA biology, although different strategies yield divergent results. The understanding of circRNA functions remains limited; however, circRNAs are enriching the RNA world, acting as an emerging key player.

SUMMARY: 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. AVAILABILITY AND IMPLEMENTATION: CircPro is available at http://bis.zju.edu.cn/CircPro. CONTACT: [email protected]. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.