Biomaterial Database

"Well-determined" regions in RNA secondary structure prediction: analysis of small subunit ribosomal RNA. 1995

M Zuker, and A B Jacobson

Institute for Biomedical Computing, Washington University, St Louis, MO 63110, USA.

Recent structural analyses of genomic RNAs from RNA coliphages suggest that both well-determined base paired helices and well-determined structural domains that are identified by "energy dot plot" analysis using the RNA folding package mfold, are likely to be predicted correctly. To test these observations with another group of large RNAs, we have analyzed 15 ribosomal RNAs. Published secondary structure models that were derived by comparative sequence analysis were used to evaluate the predicted structures. Both the optimal predicted fold and the predicted "energy dot plot" of each sequence were examined. Each prediction was obtained from a single computer run on an entire ribosomal RNA sequence. All predicted base pairs in optimal foldings were examined for agreement with proven base pairs in the comparative models. Our analyses show that the overall correspondence between the predicted and comparative models varied for different RNAs and ranges from a low of 27% to high of 70%, with a mean value of 49%. The correspondence improves to a mean value of 81% when the analysis is limited to well-determined helices. In addition to well-determined helices, large well-determined structural domains can be observed in "energy dot plots" of some 16S ribosomal RNAs. The predicted domains correspond closely with structural domains that are found by the comparative method in the same RNAs. Our analyses also show that measuring the agreement between predicted and comparative secondary structure models underestimates the reliability of structural prediction by mfold.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D008956	Models, Chemical	Theoretical representations that simulate the behavior or activity of chemical processes or phenomena; includes the use of mathematical equations, computers, and other electronic equipment.	Chemical Models,Chemical Model,Model, Chemical
D008969	Molecular Sequence Data	Descriptions of specific amino acid, carbohydrate, or nucleotide sequences which have appeared in the published literature and/or are deposited in and maintained by databanks such as GENBANK, European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), National Biomedical Research Foundation (NBRF), or other sequence repositories.	Sequence Data, Molecular,Molecular Sequencing Data,Data, Molecular Sequence,Data, Molecular Sequencing,Sequencing Data, Molecular
D009690	Nucleic Acid Conformation	The spatial arrangement of the atoms of a nucleic acid or polynucleotide that results in its characteristic 3-dimensional shape.	DNA Conformation,RNA Conformation,Conformation, DNA,Conformation, Nucleic Acid,Conformation, RNA,Conformations, DNA,Conformations, Nucleic Acid,Conformations, RNA,DNA Conformations,Nucleic Acid Conformations,RNA Conformations
D003198	Computer Simulation	Computer-based representation of physical systems and phenomena such as chemical processes.	Computational Modeling,Computational Modelling,Computer Models,In silico Modeling,In silico Models,In silico Simulation,Models, Computer,Computerized Models,Computer Model,Computer Simulations,Computerized Model,In silico Model,Model, Computer,Model, Computerized,Model, In silico,Modeling, Computational,Modeling, In silico,Modelling, Computational,Simulation, Computer,Simulation, In silico,Simulations, Computer
D001483	Base Sequence	The sequence of PURINES and PYRIMIDINES in nucleic acids and polynucleotides. It is also called nucleotide sequence.	DNA Sequence,Nucleotide Sequence,RNA Sequence,DNA Sequences,Base Sequences,Nucleotide Sequences,RNA Sequences,Sequence, Base,Sequence, DNA,Sequence, Nucleotide,Sequence, RNA,Sequences, Base,Sequences, DNA,Sequences, Nucleotide,Sequences, RNA
D012329	RNA, Bacterial	Ribonucleic acid in bacteria having regulatory and catalytic roles as well as involvement in protein synthesis.	Bacterial RNA
D012336	RNA, Ribosomal, 16S	Constituent of 30S subunit prokaryotic ribosomes containing 1600 nucleotides and 21 proteins. 16S rRNA is involved in initiation of polypeptide synthesis.	16S Ribosomal RNA,16S rRNA,RNA, 16S Ribosomal,Ribosomal RNA, 16S,rRNA, 16S
D013816	Thermodynamics	A rigorously mathematical analysis of energy relationships (heat, work, temperature, and equilibrium). It describes systems whose states are determined by thermal parameters, such as temperature, in addition to mechanical and electromagnetic parameters. (From Hawley's Condensed Chemical Dictionary, 12th ed)	Thermodynamic
D015394	Molecular Structure	The location of the atoms, groups or ions relative to one another in a molecule, as well as the number, type and location of covalent bonds.	Structure, Molecular,Molecular Structures,Structures, Molecular
D018749	RNA, Plant	Ribonucleic acid in plants having regulatory and catalytic roles as well as involvement in protein synthesis.	Plant RNA