Abundant circular RNA expression in terminal myeloid differentiation does not correlate with frequent circRNA translation, or with circRNA-mediated translation regulation

Abstract

Each day, about 1012 erythrocytes and platelets are released into the blood stream. This substantial output from hematopoietic stem cells is tightly regulated by transcriptional and epigenetic factors. Whether and how circular RNAs (circRNAs) contribute to the differentiation and/or identity of hematopoietic cells is to date not known. We recently reported that erythrocytes and platelets contain the highest levels and numbers of circRNAs amongst hematopoietic cells. Here, we provide the first detailed analysis of circRNA expression during erythroid and megakaryoid differentiation. CircRNA expression not only significantly increased upon enucleation, but also had limited overlap between progenitor cells and mature cells, suggesting that circRNA expression stems from regulated processes rather than resulting from mere accumulation. To study circRNA function in hematopoiesis, we first compared the expression levels of circRNAs with the translation efficiency of their mRNA-counterpart. We found that only 1 out of 2531 (0.04%) circRNAs associated with mRNA-translation regulation. Furthermore, irrespective of 1000s of identified putative open reading frames, deep ribosome-footprinting sequencing and mass spectrometry analysis provided little evidence for translation of endogenously expressed circRNAs. In conclusion, circRNAs alter their expression profile during terminal hematopoietic differentiation, yet their contribution to regulate cellular processes remains enigmatic.