It has been known that
circular RNAs are widely expressed in human tissues and cells, and play important regulatory roles in physiological or
pathological processes. However, there is lack of comprehensively annotated human
circular RNAs database. In this study we established a
circRNA database, named as circRNADb, containing 32,914 human exonic
circRNAs carefully selected from diversified sources. The detailed information of the
circRNA, including genomic information, exon splicing, genome sequence,
internal ribosome entry site (IRES), open reading frame (ORF) and references were provided in circRNADb. In addition,
circRNAs were found to be able to encode
proteins, which have not been reported in any species. 16328
circRNAs were annotated to have ORF longer than 100
amino acids, of which 7170 have IRES elements. 46
circRNAs from 37 genes were found to have their corresponding
proteins expressed according mass spectrometry. The database provides the function of data search, browse, download, submit and feedback for the user to study particular
circular RNA of interest and update the database continually. circRNADb will be built to be a biological information platform for
circRNA molecules and related biological functions in the future. The database can be freely available through the web server at http://reprod.njmu.edu.cn/circrnadb.