{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,10]],"date-time":"2026-08-10T06:27:56Z","timestamp":1786343276372,"version":"build-2736575974"},"reference-count":45,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,10]],"date-time":"2026-08-10T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1786320000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Plant Sci."],"abstract":"<jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Introduction<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Circular RNAs (circRNAs) are important regulators of plant development and stress responses, but their roles in 6-benzylaminopurine (6-BA)-induced female flower differentiation in industrial hemp remain unclear.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Industrial hemp plants were treated with  60 mg\u00b7L-1 6-BA, and female flower samples were collected at different developmental stages. Genome-wide high-throughput sequencing was used to identify circRNAs. Selected circRNAs and miRNAs were validated by qRT-PCR. Gene Ontology and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes analyses were performed, and putative circRNA\u2013miRNA\u2013mRNA networks and the protein-coding potential of circRNAs were computationally evaluated.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>A total of 264 circRNAs were identified. Multiple circRNAs exhibited stage-specific responses to 6-BA. Cs_circ_67024327 showed the strongest induction at the early female flower stage, whereas Cs_circ_44508988 and Cs_circ_21994222 exhibited distinct responses from the early to middle developmental stages. CsSPT5, a flowering-time candidate gene located near the SDR\/PAR boundary, was downregulated at the shoot apical meristem stage but upregulated at the early and middle female flower stages. No statistically significant GO terms or KEGG pathways were detected after multiple-testing correction. Computational analyses suggested that several circRNAs may function as miRNA sponges, and some circRNAs contained conserved domains indicating potential protein-coding capacity.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Discussion<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>These findings provide preliminary evidence that 6-BA-responsive circRNAs may participate in female flower differentiation in industrial hemp through predicted ceRNA interactions or mechanisms related to their coding potential. These putative regulatory mechanisms require further experimental validation.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fpls.2026.1856539","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,10]],"date-time":"2026-08-10T05:30:38Z","timestamp":1786339838000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Identification of circRNAs in industrial hemp (Cannabis sativa L.) and prediction of regulatory networks underlying female differentiation"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"17","author":[{"given":"Qiang","family":"Wang","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Life Science and Agriculture and Forestry, Qiqihar University","place":["Qiqihar, Heilongjiang, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Zhibo","family":"Sun","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Life Science and Agriculture and Forestry, Qiqihar University","place":["Qiqihar, Heilongjiang, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Nan","family":"Zhao","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Life Science and Agriculture and Forestry, Qiqihar University","place":["Qiqihar, Heilongjiang, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Xinyue","family":"Wang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Life Science and Agriculture and Forestry, Qiqihar University","place":["Qiqihar, Heilongjiang, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Lijie","family":"Liu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Life Science and Agriculture and Forestry, Qiqihar University","place":["Qiqihar, Heilongjiang, China"]},{"name":"Engineering Research Center for Industrial Hemp and Industrial Hemp Products in Cold Regions, Ministry of Education","place":["Qiqihar, Heilongjiang, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Xuesong","family":"Wang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Life Science and Agriculture and Forestry, Qiqihar University","place":["Qiqihar, Heilongjiang, China"]},{"name":"Engineering Research Center for Industrial Hemp and Industrial Hemp Products in Cold Regions, Ministry of Education","place":["Qiqihar, Heilongjiang, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,10]]},"reference":[{"key":"B1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"17","DOI":"10.1007\/s00425-020-03522-y","article-title":"Comparative RNA-Seq analysis reveals genes associated with masculinization in female Cannabis sativa","volume":"253","author":"Adal","year":"2021","journal-title":"Planta"},{"key":"B2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.3390\/biom10091222","article-title":"Applications of cytokinins in horticultural fruit crops: Trends and future prospects","volume":"10","author":"Aremu","year":"2020","journal-title":"Biomolecules"},{"key":"B3","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1838","DOI":"10.1242\/dev.128074","article-title":"Circular RNAs: analysis, expression and potential functions","volume":"143","author":"Barrett","year":"2016","journal-title":"Development"},{"key":"B4","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"16","DOI":"10.3390\/plants12233951","article-title":"Emphasizing the role of long non-coding RNAs (lncRNA), circular RNA (circRNA), and micropeptides (miPs) in plant biotic stress tolerance","volume":"12","author":"Bhar","year":"2023","journal-title":"Plants-Basel"},{"key":"B5","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"509","DOI":"10.1186\/s12870-023-04463-w","article-title":"The miRNA\u2013mRNA regulatory networks of the response to NaHCO3 stress in industrial hemp (Cannabis sativa L.)","volume":"23","author":"Cao","year":"2023","journal-title":"BMC Plant Biol."},{"key":"B6","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0194436","article-title":"Identifying optimal reference genes for the normalization of microRNA expression in cucumber under viral stress","volume":"13","author":"Chaoqiong","year":"2018","journal-title":"PloS One"},{"key":"B7","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.3389\/fpls.2017.01678","article-title":"Genome-wide identification of circular RNAs in Arabidopsis thaliana","volume":"8","author":"Chen","year":"2017","journal-title":"Front. 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