Loops of RNA help drive synapse-building during visual system development in young mice

Wiring up the brain's trillions of circuit connections is an enormous job performed by a huge crew of molecules. Among the less understood members are circular RNAs, transcripts from DNA that assume a closed loop shape. A study by a team of neuroscientists centered at MIT shows that one such circular RNA from the Homer gene (circHomer1) takes on a significant and somewhat surprising role in how the developing brains of mice form connections (synapses) in the visual system.

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