Induction of circular RNA in fetal heart development recapitulated in in vitro differentiation

We discovered induction of circular RNA in human fetal tissues, including the heart. In this study, we were able to recapitulate this induction by in vitro directed differentiation of hESCs to cardiomyocytes, paving the way for future studies into circular RNA regulation. Overall design: We harvested hESCs at sequential stages of differentiation: undifferentiated (day 0), mesoderm (day 2), cardiac progenitor (day 5) and definitive cardiomyocyte (day 14). We performed RNA sequencing in biological triplicate, with 3-8 technical replicates each.