Circular RNA molecules (circRNA) are single-stranded, covalently closed ribonucleic acids that belong to the group of non-coding RNA molecules. The increasing number of studies on circular RNA molecules has led to the discovery of more and more important functions and potential uses of circular RNA molecules in medicine and in the treatment processes of various diseases. It is also hypothesized that specific circular RNA molecules are involved in regulating circadian rhythm, which we have decided to investigate in more detail as part of thesis. Circadian rhythm is a naturally occurring fluctuation of psychological, biochemical, and behavioral processes in the body that is believed to repeat periodically every 24 hours. In order to analyze the impact of selected circular RNA molecules on the expression of circadian rhythm genes BMAL1, CLOCK, PER1, PER2, CRY1, and CRY2, 11 potential circular RNA molecules were overexpressed in U2OS cell line cells as part of previous research. The purpose of my thesis was to confirm the overexpression of the selected circRNAs and then analyze the changes in the expression levels of the aforementioned genes between cells where the circular RNA was overexpressed, cells transfected with an empty vector pRR (without an inserted circRNA sequence), and non-transfected cells to which neither vectors nor transfection reagents were added. In the experimental part, we successfully confirmed the overexpression of the selected circular RNA molecules in U2OS cell line cells, and we also detected changes in the expression level of the BMAL1 gene in the case of overexpression of circRNA hsa_circ_0001380 and the PER2 gene in the case of overexpression of circRNA hsa_circ_0000524. We also discovered the influence of the empty vector pRR itself on the expression of the PER1 and BMAL1 genes.
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