title: RNAComposer and RNA 3D structure prediction for nanotechnology.
abstract: RNAs adopt specific, stable tertiary architectures to perform their activities. Knowledge of RNA tertiary structure is fundamental to understand RNA functions beginning with transcription and ending with turnover. Contrary to advanced RNA secondary structure prediction algorithms, which allow good accuracy when experimental data are integrated into the prediction, tertiary structure prediction of large RNAs still remains a significant challenge. However, the field of RNA tertiary structure prediction is rapidly developing and new computational methods based on different strategies are emerging. RNAComposer is a user-friendly and freely available server for 3D structure prediction of RNA up to 500 nucleotide residues. RNAComposer employs fully automated fragment assembly based on RNA secondary structure specified by the user. Importantly, this method allows incorporation of distance restraints derived from the experimental data to strengthen the 3D predictions. The potential and limitations of RNAComposer are discussed and an application to RNA design for nanotechnology is presented.
authors.affiliation: Department of Structural Chemistry and Biology of Nucleic Acids, Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry, Polish Academy of Sciences, Poznan, Poland; Institute of Computing Science, Poznan University of Technology, Poznan, Poland.
authors.forename: Marcin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Biesiada
authors.affiliation: Department of Structural Chemistry and Biology of Nucleic Acids, Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry, Polish Academy of Sciences, Poznan, Poland.
authors.forename: Katarzyna
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Pachulska-Wieczorek
authors.affiliation: Department of Structural Chemistry and Biology of Nucleic Acids, Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry, Polish Academy of Sciences, Poznan, Poland; Institute of Computing Science, Poznan University of Technology, Poznan, Poland.
authors.forename: Ryszard W
authors.initials: RW
authors.lastname: Adamiak
authors.affiliation: Department of Structural Chemistry and Biology of Nucleic Acids, Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry, Polish Academy of Sciences, Poznan, Poland. Electronic address: purzycka@ibch.poznan.pl.
authors.forename: Katarzyna J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Purzycka
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D003198:Computer Simulation; D008958:Models, Molecular; D036103:Nanotechnology; D009690:Nucleic Acid Conformation; D012313:RNA / Q000737:chemistry*; D012984:Software
chemical_list: D012313:RNA
keywords: RNA; RNA 3D structure; RNA nanotechnology; RNA structure prediction; Structural bioinformatics