Understanding muscle development

University of Delaware's Mona Batish is a molecular biologist. She studies circular RNAs formed as a result of so-called molecular mistakes that occur when a strand of RNA - the ribonucleic acid that tells the body how to use DNA - gets kinked and sort of does a backflip, producing a circular product. These circular anomalies were originally thought of as errors, but today circular RNAs are known to play a role in multiple diseases, including cancer.

How do they do this?

Circular RNAs are a type of non-coding RNA, meaning they generally don't carry instructions for making proteins in the body. However, they do help control how and when genes get turned on or off. They have the same sequence as the messenger RNAs (mRNAs) from which they originate. This mRNA carries the instruction code that tells our cells how to do everything they need to survive, such as making proteins or enzymes that perform functions in the body. Sometimes circRNAs function as decoys, blocking the ability of other regulatory RNAs and proteins nearby, and controlling the amount of protein or enzymes made in the body.

Circular RNAs are stable, they don't degrade easily, and they are found in body fluids like blood, making them a useful biomarker for diseases or therapeutics. Researchers are still working out the details on how circular RNAs function and what they do in the body. There is a lot more to discover.

Batish has looked at the presence of circular RNAs in cancers and soft tissue tumors. More recently, she and colleagues, including Dr. Robert Akins' team at Nemours Children's Health, have investigated the role of a regulatory circular RNA in cerebral palsy (CP). Their work revealed some interesting things.

The research team found that a specific muscle protein, known as MEF2C, is significantly reduced in muscle cells with CP. Further, they discovered that a particular circular RNA involved in muscle development, called circular RNA nuclear factor IX (circNFIX), may be partly responsible for this phenomenon.