title: RNA Structure: Advances and Assessment of 3D Structure Prediction.
abstract: Biological functions of RNA molecules are dependent upon sustained specific three-dimensional (3D) structures of RNA, with or without the help of proteins. Understanding of RNA structure is frequently based on 2D structures, which describe only the Watson-Crick (WC) base pairs. Here, we hierarchically review the structural elements of RNA and how they contribute to RNA 3D structure. We focus our analysis on the non-WC base pairs and on RNA modules. Several computer programs have now been designed to predict RNA modules. We describe the RNA-Puzzles initiative, which is a community-wide, blind assessment of RNA 3D structure prediction programs to determine the capabilities and bottlenecks of current predictions. The assessment metrics used in RNA-Puzzles are briefly described. The detection of RNA 3D modules from sequence data and their automatic implementation belong to the current challenges in RNA 3D structure prediction.
authors.affiliation: Architecture et Réactivité de l'ARN, Université de Strasbourg, Institut de Biologie Moléculaire et Cellulaire du CNRS, 67000 Strasbourg, France; email: z.miao@ibmc-cnrs.unistra.fr , e.westhof@ibmc-cnrs.unistra.fr.
authors.forename: Zhichao
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Miao
authors.affiliation: Architecture et Réactivité de l'ARN, Université de Strasbourg, Institut de Biologie Moléculaire et Cellulaire du CNRS, 67000 Strasbourg, France; email: z.miao@ibmc-cnrs.unistra.fr , e.westhof@ibmc-cnrs.unistra.fr.
authors.forename: Eric
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Westhof
mesh_terms: D020029:Base Pairing; D009690:Nucleic Acid Conformation; D012313:RNA / Q000737:chemistry*; D012984:Software
chemical_list: D012313:RNA
keywords: RNA structure; RNA-puzzles; evaluation metrics; prediction; structural module; three-dimensional