摘要Phosphatase and tensin homolog(PTEN)is a multifunctional gene involved in a variety of physiological and pathological processes.Circular RNAs(circRNAs)are generated from back-splicing events during mRNA processing and participate in cell biological processes through binding to RNAs or proteins.However,PTEN-related circRNAs are largely unknown.Here,we report that circPTEN-mitochondria(MT)(hsa_circ_0002934)is a circular RNA encoded by exons 3,4,and 5 of PTEN and is a critical regulator of mitochondrial energy metabolism.CircPTEN-MT is localized to mitochondria and physically associated with leucine-rich pentatricopeptide repeat-containing protein(LRPPRC),which regulates post-transcriptional gene expression in mitochondria.Knocking down circPTEN-MT reduces the interaction of LRPPRC and steroid receptor RNA activator(SRA)stem-loop interacting RNA binding protein(SLIRP)and inhibits the polyadenylation of mitochondrial mRNA,which decreases the mRNA level of the mitochondrial complex Ⅰ subunit and reduces mitochondrial membrane potential and adenosine triphosphate production.Our data demonstrate that circPTEN-MT is an important regulator of cellular energy metabolism.This study expands our understanding of the role of PTEN,which produces both linear and circular RNAs with different and independent functions.