Alternative splicing of eukaryotic messenger RNA transcripts often leads to the production of several mature RNAs — including linear RNAs and circular RNAs (circRNAs) — from a single gene

locus. The names given to circRNAs are often ambiguous and lack consistency across studies. This Comment calls on the community to embrace a common nomenclature for naming circRNAs to ensure

clarity and reproducibility. Access through your institution Buy or subscribe This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution ACCESS OPTIONS Access through your

institution Access Nature and 54 other Nature Portfolio journals Get Nature+, our best-value online-access subscription $29.99 / 30 days cancel any time Learn more Subscribe to this journal

REFERENCES * Nilsen, T. W. & Graveley, B. R. _Nature_ 463, 457–463 (2010). Article  CAS  Google Scholar  * Szabo, L. & Salzman, J. _Nat. Rev. Genet._ 17, 679–692 (2016). Article  CAS

  Google Scholar  * Kristensen, L. S. et al. _Nat. Rev. Genet._ 20, 675–691 (2019). Article  CAS  Google Scholar  * Yang, L., Wilusz, J. E. & Chen, L. L. _Annu. Rev. Cell Dev. Biol._ 38,

263–289 (2022). Article  Google Scholar  * Liu, C. X. & Chen, L. L. _Cell_ 185, 2016–2034 (2022). Article  CAS  Google Scholar  * Li, X. et al. _Sci. China Life Sci._ 64, 1795–1809

(2021). Article  CAS  Google Scholar  * Tay, M. L. & Pek, J. W. _Curr. Biol._ 27, 1062–1067 (2017). Article  CAS  Google Scholar  * Barrett, S. P., Parker, K. R., Horn, C., Mata, M.

& Salzman, J. _PLoS Genet._ 13, e1007114 (2017). Article  Google Scholar  * Memczak, S. et al. _Nature_ 495, 333–338 (2013). Article  CAS  Google Scholar  * Hansen, T. B. et al. _Nature_

495, 384–388 (2013). Article  CAS  Google Scholar  * Hansen, T. B. et al. _EMBO J._ 30, 4414–4422 (2011). Article  CAS  Google Scholar  * Li, S. et al. _Nat. Methods_ 18, 51–59 (2021).

Article  Google Scholar  * Xin, R. et al. _Nat. Commun._ 12, 266 (2021). Article  CAS  Google Scholar  * Seal, R. L. et al. _EMBO J._ 39, e103777 (2020). Article  CAS  Google Scholar  *

Dong, R., Ma, X. K., Li, G. W. & Yang, L. _Genom. Proteom. Bioinf._ 16, 226–233 (2018). Article  Google Scholar  * Wu, W., Ji, P. & Zhao, F. _Genome Biol._ 21, 101 (2020). Article 

CAS  Google Scholar  * Liu, M., Wang, Q., Shen, J., Yang, B. B. & Ding, X. _RNA Biol._ 16, 899–905 (2019). Article  Google Scholar  * Glazar, P., Papavasileiou, P. & Rajewsky, N.

_RNA_ 20, 1666–1670 (2014). Article  CAS  Google Scholar  * Morales, J. et al. _Nature_ 604, 310–315 (2022). Article  CAS  Google Scholar  * Li, Z. et al. _Nat. Struct. Mol. Biol._ 22,

256–264 (2015). Article  Google Scholar  * Zhang, J. et al. _Nat. Biotechnol._ 39, 836–845 (2021). Article  CAS  Google Scholar  * Rahimi, K., Veno, M. T., Dupont, D. M. & Kjems, J.

_Nat. Commun._ 12, 4825 (2021). Article  CAS  Google Scholar  * Bruford, E. A. et al. _Leukemia_ 35, 3040–3043 (2021). Article  CAS  Google Scholar  * Guarnerio, J. et al. _Cell_ 165,

289–302 (2016). Article  CAS  Google Scholar  * Lasda, E. & Parker, R. _RNA_ 20, 1829–1842 (2014). Article  CAS  Google Scholar  Download references AUTHOR INFORMATION AUTHORS AND

AFFILIATIONS * State Key Laboratory of Molecular Biology, CAS Center for Excellence in Molecular Cell Science, Shanghai Institute of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, University of Chinese

Academy of Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China Ling-Ling Chen * Institute of Biochemistry, Faculty of Biology and Chemistry, Justus Liebig University of Giessen, Giessen,

Germany Albrecht Bindereif * Department of Biology and Biotechnologies ‘Charles Darwin’ and IIT Center for Life Nano- & Neuro-Science@Sapienza, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy

Irene Bozzoni * Center for Personal Dynamic Regulomes, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA Howard Y. Chang * Integrative Program in Biological and Genome

Sciences, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, USA A. Gregory Matera * Laboratory of Genetics and Genomics, National Institute on Aging Intramural Research Program, National

Institutes of Health, Baltimore, MD, USA Myriam Gorospe * Interdisciplinary Nanoscience Center (iNANO), Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark

Thomas B. Hansen & Jørgen Kjems * Center for Molecular Medicine, Children’s Hospital, Fudan University and Shanghai Key Laboratory of Medical Epigenetics, International Laboratory of

Medical Epigenetics and Metabolism, Institutes of Biomedical Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai, China Xu-Kai Ma & Li Yang * Temasek Life Sciences Laboratory, 1 Research Link National

University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore Jun Wei Pek * Berlin Institute for Medical Systems Biology, Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine in the Hemholtz Association, Berlin,

Germany Nikolaus Rajewsky * Department of Biochemistry, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA Julia Salzman * Verna and Marrs McLean Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology,

Therapeutic Innovation Center, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, USA Jeremy E. Wilusz * Beijing Institutes of Life Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China Fangqing Zhao

Authors * Ling-Ling Chen View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Albrecht Bindereif View author publications You can also search for this

author inPubMed Google Scholar * Irene Bozzoni View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Howard Y. Chang View author publications You can also

search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * A. Gregory Matera View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Myriam Gorospe View author

publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Thomas B. Hansen View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Jørgen

Kjems View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Xu-Kai Ma View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar *

Jun Wei Pek View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Nikolaus Rajewsky View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed 

Google Scholar * Julia Salzman View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Jeremy E. Wilusz View author publications You can also search for this

author inPubMed Google Scholar * Li Yang View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Fangqing Zhao View author publications You can also search for

this author inPubMed Google Scholar CORRESPONDING AUTHORS Correspondence to Ling-Ling Chen, Jeremy E. Wilusz or Li Yang. ETHICS DECLARATIONS COMPETING INTERESTS J.E.W. is a consultant for

Laronde. H.Y.C. is a co-founder of Orbital Therapeutics. The other authors declare no competing interests. PEER REVIEW PEER REVIEW INFORMATION _Nature Cell Biology_ thanks Igor Ulitsky,

Shenglin Huang, and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work. RIGHTS AND PERMISSIONS Reprints and permissions ABOUT THIS ARTICLE CITE THIS

ARTICLE Chen, LL., Bindereif, A., Bozzoni, I. _et al._ A guide to naming eukaryotic circular RNAs. _Nat Cell Biol_ 25, 1–5 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41556-022-01066-9 Download

citation * Published: 19 January 2023 * Issue Date: January 2023 * DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41556-022-01066-9 SHARE THIS ARTICLE Anyone you share the following link with will be able to

read this content: Get shareable link Sorry, a shareable link is not currently available for this article. Copy to clipboard Provided by the Springer Nature SharedIt content-sharing

initiative