Analyzing RNA-kinetics based on folding space abstraction

Abstract: Background
RNA molecules, especially non-coding RNAs, play vital roles in the cell and their biological functions are mostly determined by structural properties. Often, these properties are related to dynamic changes in the structure, as in the case of riboswitches, and thus the analysis of RNA folding kinetics is crucial for their study. Exact approaches to kinetic folding are computationally expensive and, thus, limited to short sequences. In a previous study, we introduced a position-specific abstraction based on helices which we termed helix index shapes (hishapes) and a hishape-based algorithm for near-optimal folding pathway computation, called HiPath. The combination of these approaches provides an abstract view of the folding space that offers information about the global features.

Results
In this paper we present HiKinetics, an algorithm that can predict RNA folding kinetics for sequences up to several hundred nucleotides long. This algorithm is based on RNAHeliCes, which decomposes the folding space into abstract classes, namely hishapes, and an improved version of HiPath, namely HiPath2, which estimates plausible folding pathways that connect these classes. Furthermore, we analyse the relationship of hishapes to locally optimal structures, the results of which strengthen the use of the hishape abstraction for studying folding kinetics. Finally, we show the application of HiKinetics to the folding kinetics of two well-studied RNAs.

Conclusions
HiKinetics can calculate kinetic folding based on a novel hishape decomposition. HiKinetics, together with HiPath2 and RNAHeliCes, is available for download at http://www.cyanolab.de/software/RNAHeliCes.htm

Object Details

• Location: Deutsche Nationalbibliothek Frankfurt am Main
• Extent: Online-Ressource
• Language: Englisch
• Notes: BMC bioinformatics. 15 (2014), 60, DOI 10.1186/1471-2105-15-60, ISSN: 1471-2105

Classification and Topics

• Keyword: RNS ; Kinetik ; Abstraktion

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (where): Freiburg
• (who): Universität
• (when): 2017
• Creator: Huang, Jiabin ; Voß, Björn
• Contributor: University of Freiburg. Genetics & Experimental Bioinformatics ; Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg. Institut für Biologie III ; Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg. Fakultät für Biologie

Further information

• DOI: 10.1186/1471-2105-15-60
• URN: urn:nbn:de:bsz:25-freidok-124860
• Rights: Open Access; Der Zugriff auf das Objekt ist unbeschränkt möglich.
• Last update: 25.03.2025, 1:45 PM CET