Computational approaches for alternative and transient secondary structures of ribonucleic acids

Abstract

Transient and alternative structures of ribonucleic acids (RNAs) play essential roles in various regulatory processes, such as translation regulation in living cells. Because experimental analyses for RNA structures are difficult and time-consuming, computational approaches based on RNA secondary structures are promising. In this article, we review computational methods for detecting and analyzing transient/alternative secondary structures of RNAs, including static approaches based on probabilistic distributions of RNA secondary structures and dynamic approaches such as kinetic folding and folding pathway predictions.

Keywords: RNA secondary structures; alternative/transient structures; folding pathway; kinetic folding; probability distribution of secondary structures; riboswitch.