[Diogenesis]

The following study was published in the Oxford Academic peer reviewed journal: Briefings in Bioinformatics.

And here is more:

Breaking News! Chinese Researchers Discover circRNAs Encoded By SARS-CoV-2 Virus That Can Cause Cancer
It is already known that the life-threatening coronaviruses MERS-CoV, SARS-CoV-1 and
SARS-CoV-2 (SARS-CoV-1/2) have caused and will continue to cause enormous morbidity
and mortality to humans. Virus-encoded noncoding RNAs are poorly understood in coronaviruses.
Data mining of viral-infection-related RNA-sequencing data has resulted in the identification of
28 754, 720 and 3437 circRNAs encoded by MERS-CoV, SARS-CoV-1 and SARS-CoV-2, respectively.

Viral circRNAs typically exhibit low expression levels. Moreover, majority of the viral
circRNAs exhibit expressions only in the late stage of viral infection.
Detailed analysis of the competitive interactions of viral circRNAs, human miRNAs and
mRNAs in MERS-CoV infections reveals that viral circRNAs up-regulated genes related to
mRNA splicing and processing in the early stage of viral infection, and regulated genes involved
in diverse functions including cancer, metabolism, autophagy, viral infection
in the late stage of viral infection.

Also similar analysis in SARS-CoV-2 infections reveals that its viral circRNAs down-regulated
genes associated with metabolic processes of cholesterol, alcohol, fatty acid and up-regulated
genes associated with cellular responses to oxidative stress in the late stage of viral infection.
A few genes regulated by viral circRNAs from both MERS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2 were
enriched in several biological processes such as response to reactive oxygen and centrosome localization.

[moonhawk]

would appreciate if you could summarize that in plain english, please.