Rna secondary structure prediction  (Page 2/2)

It is clear to see that RNA molecules have many unique characteristics, distinct from the properties of DNA and protein structures. Many of these characteristics can be exploited to predict RNA structure from a nucleotide sequence.

One of the methodologies that is commonly used for RNA structure prediction is based on calculating free energy estimates for each possible fold, then choosing the fold that yields the lowest free energy. These free energy values are a combination of energy values calculated for each pair of adjacent base pairs, plus loop or bulge energies. The energy values are derived from melting studies of synthetically constructed oligoribonucleotides. For more information on the development of RNA free energy parameters, see the Development and References Page of the Zuker-Turner RNA folding package.

Compute the free energy of an RNA structure using the efn server, an RNA free energy web site authored by Michael Zuker, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Copy and paste the following RNA sequence into the sequence query box.

Just below the sequence query box, there is a box where the secondary structure can be defined by specifying base pairs. This is done using a triplet of numbers to define each stem region of consecutive base pairs. The first number in the triplet defines the sequence number of the first base in the pair from the 5' end of the sequence. The second number defines the sequence number of the opposing base in the pair. The third number defines how many consecutive bases are involved in the stem. In this example, use the following triplet:

The triplet in the above example means that the bases "C C G", number 10, 11 and 12, base pair with the bases "C G G", bases number 17, 18 and 19. Paste the above triplet into the secondary structure box and click on the box that says, "Send data for processing".

Now, use the same sequence, but specify a different secondary structure. This time, paste the following triplet into the secondary structure box and send for data processing:

A second approach to RNA secondary structure prediction is to look for conserved stem regions in related sequences. This method involves looking for regions within sequences where stems have been conserved, even when the bases have mutated. For this to happen, it would require that if a G mutated to an A, then the opposing C in the base pair would mutate to a U. These regions are found by aligning related RNA sequences, and applying an algorithm that looks for these sorts of paired mutations in predicted stem regions. Align the RNA sequences of the following tRNAs using ClustalW .

IMPORTANT: After ClustalW alignment, the program puts asterisk below conserved residues. These must be removed before submitting the alignment to the RNA secondary structures prediction server.

Copy the multiple alignment and paste it into the query box at the RNA secondary structure prediction server , Moscow State University. Click "submit query", and the results should appear within about 3 minutes. Scroll down the page and view the section where the stem regions were identified, and their free energies were computed.

RNA structure has some distinct differences from DNA structure that can be exploited to yield secondary structure predictions that are usually reasonably accurate. In addition, there are many on-line tools and databases that are specific to RNA. Here, the use of a few of these tools has been illustrated, but take some time to view more of the links that are available on the RNA World Website , Institut fur Molekulare Biotechnologie, Jena, Germany.