RNA functions, including the regulation of various cellular activities, seem to be closely related to its structure. However, accurately predicting RNA secondary structures can be difficult. Structural prediction can be achieved by selecting stem areas that are suitable and compatible from stem pools. Here, we propose a method for predicting the secondary structure of non-coding RNA based on stem region substitution, which we named RSRNA. This method is compatible with nested RNA secondary structures, while reducing any randomness. Our algorithm had higher performance and prediction accuracy than other algorithms, which deems it more effective for future RNA structure studies.
Keywords: RNA secondary structure; combinatorial optimization algorithm; rsRNA; stem pool.