RNA Coarse-Grained Model Theory

Section of Integrative Biology and Center for Computationai Bioiogy and Bioinformatics, Institute for Celluiar and Molecuiar Bioiogy, 

The University of Texas at Austin, 107 W. Dean Keeton St Stop C0800, 

Many-Body Effects and Electrostatics in Biomolecules Edited by Qjang Cui, Markus Meuwly and Pengyu Ren Copyright 2016 Pan Stanford Publishing Pte. Ltd. 

Higher order structures are necessary to understand the function of ribozymes (ribonucleic acid enzymes). Ribozymes function in diverse ways, from hydrol5ftic reactions in cleaving nucleic acids to peptidyl-transferase activity in building proteins. How the ribozyme folds into its 3-D structure determines which caXaXytic sites such as metal ions and hydroxyl residues are available [8]. Though a wide array of RNAs are undergoing clinical trials for therapeutic applications (for a review, see [9]), a cited clinical study showed favorable results for a therapeutic ribozyme [10]. 

In this chapter, we first discuss the primary and secondary structure of RNA in Section 15.2. Next, we present RNA tertiary structure as well as some discussion of RNA folding in Section 15.3. 

---