Krokhotin Andrey, Houlihan Kevin, Dokholyan Nikolay V
Department of Biochemistry & Biophysics, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, 27599, USA.
Bioinformatics. 2015 Sep 1;31(17):2891-3. doi: 10.1093/bioinformatics/btv221. Epub 2015 Apr 24.
A key to understanding RNA function is to uncover its complex 3D structure. Experimental methods used for determining RNA 3D structures are technologically challenging and laborious, which makes the development of computational prediction methods of substantial interest. Previously, we developed the iFoldRNA server that allows accurate prediction of short (<50 nt) tertiary RNA structures starting from primary sequences. Here, we present a new version of the iFoldRNA server that permits the prediction of tertiary structure of RNAs as long as a few hundred nucleotides. This substantial increase in the server capacity is achieved by utilization of experimental information such as base-pairing and hydroxyl-radical probing. We demonstrate a significant benefit provided by integration of experimental data and computational methods.
理解RNA功能的关键在于揭示其复杂的三维结构。用于确定RNA三维结构的实验方法在技术上具有挑战性且费力,这使得开发计算预测方法极具意义。此前,我们开发了iFoldRNA服务器,它能够从一级序列开始准确预测短(<50 nt)的三级RNA结构。在此,我们展示了iFoldRNA服务器的新版本,它可以预测长达几百个核苷酸的RNA三级结构。通过利用诸如碱基配对和羟基自由基探测等实验信息,服务器的容量得到了显著提升。我们证明了整合实验数据和计算方法带来的显著益处。