Genome-wide identification of circular RNAs in Arabidopsis thaliana

To exlore more circRNAs involved in Arabidopsis thaliana, we deeply sequenced 14 samples including whole plants from four developmental stages (rosette leaves > 1 mm in length; rosette growth complete; 50% of flowers to be produced have opened; first silique shattered), aerial part of plants from four stress treatments (control, drought, salinity and heat), five organs (roots, stems, leaves, flowers and siliques) and a mixed sample from whole plants across the lifespan (cotyledons emergence, rosette leaves﹥1 mm, rosette growth complete, first flower open, flourishing florescence, first silique shattered, senescence). The total RNA was purified by rRNA-depletion and linear RNA removal with RNAseR, and paired-end (PE) sequenced by Illumina HiSeq 2500 (read length, PE125, the mixed sample) and Illumina Hiseq X Ten (read length, PE150, 13 independent samples) platforms. We obtained 181.97 Gb raw data (151.37 Gb from 13 samples and 30.6 Gb from a mixed sample) and identified 5861 circRNAs with expression quantity. We annotated the parent genes of these circRNAs and predicted their target sites of microRNAs. A genome-wide identification and analysis of circRNAs in Arabidopsis thaliana were performed using the Illumina HiSeq 2500 and Illumina Hiseq X Ten platforms.