Efficient circular RNA synthesis for potent rolling circle translation

Abstract

Circular RNA (circRNA) is a candidate for next-generation messenger RNA therapeutics owing to its remarkable stability. Here we describe trans-splicing-based methods for the synthesis of circRNAs over 8,000 nucleotides. The methods are independent of bacterial sequences, outperform the permuted intron–exon method and allow for the incorporation of RNA modifications. The resulting unmodified circRNAs, which incorporate sequences from human 28S ribosomal RNA, display low immunogenicity and are translated more efficiently than permuted intron–exon-derived circRNAs. Additionally, by using viral internal ribosomal entry sites for rolling circle translation, we show that ribosomes can efficiently read through highly structured internal ribosomal entry sites, enhancing the efficiency of rolling circle translation by over 7,000-fold with respect to previous constructs. The efficient and reliable production of circRNA may facilitate its therapeutic use.