Circular RNAs (circRNAs) belong to a recently re-discovered species of RNA that 
emerge during RNA maturation through a process called back-splicing. A 
downstream 5' splice site is linked to an upstream 3' splice site to form a 
circular transcript instead of a canonical linear transcript. Recent advances in 
next-generation sequencing (NGS) have brought circRNAs back into the focus of 
many scientists. Since then, several studies reported that circRNAs are 
differentially expressed across tissue types and developmental stages, implying 
that they are actively regulated and not merely a by-product of splicing. Though 
functional studies have shown that some circRNAs could act as miRNA-sponges, the 
function of most circRNAs remains unknown. To expand our understanding of 
possible roles of circular RNAs, we propose a new pipeline that could fully 
characterizes candidate circRNA structure from RNAseq data-FUCHS: FUll 
CHaracterization of circular RNA using RNA-Sequencing. Currently, most 
computational prediction pipelines use back-spliced reads to identify circular 
RNAs. FUCHS extends this concept by considering all RNA-seq information from 
long reads (typically >150 bp) to learn more about the exon coverage, the number 
of double break point fragments, the different circular isoforms arising from 
one host-gene, and the alternatively spliced exons within the same circRNA 
boundaries. This new knowledge will enable the user to carry out differential 
motif enrichment and miRNA seed analysis to determine potential regulators 
during circRNA biogenesis. FUCHS is an easy-to-use Python based pipeline that 
contributes a new aspect to the circRNA research.