circASbase:A Comprehensive Database of Alternative Splicing Events in circRNAs

Genomics Proteomics Bioinformatics. 2025 Dec 2:qzaf121. doi: 10.1093/gpbjnl/qzaf121. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Despite extensive evidence has underscored the critical role of alternative splicing in generating mature circular RNA (circRNA) isoforms and augmenting their function diversity, a significant gap remains in the availability of specialized databases housing circRNA alternative splicing events. To bridge this gap, we develop circASbase, a pioneering and comprehensive database that catalogues 452,129 alternative splicing events in 884,047 full-length circRNAs from 581 samples across 13 species, and provides rich annotations to facilitate understanding the splicing regulation of circRNA. Our findings reveal substantial differences between circRNAs and linear transcripts regarding the distribution and occurrence of alternative splicing events, highlighting the unique regulatory landscape of circRNAs. These special splicing events result in functional differences of circRNAs by affecting IRES sites, m6A sites, ORFs, protein features, miRNA targets, and more. In summary, circASbase not only covers the urgent need of the research community for data repositories, but also represents a significant advancement in our understanding of circRNA biology. With its user-friendly interfaces and web-based visualization tools, circASbase is poised to become an indispensable resource for researchers exploring the regulatory mechanisms and functional roles of alternative splicing events in circRNAs. This database will continuously drive new insights and discoveries in the field, setting the stage for further advancements in circRNA research. circASbase is freely available at http://reprod.njmu.edu.cn/cgi-bin/circASbase/.

PMID:41329497 | DOI:10.1093/gpbjnl/qzaf121