This project is dedicated to achieving this level of understanding for a ubiquitous building block element of RNA tertiary structure: the helix-junction-helix (HJH) motif. Our studies are made possible by recent breakthroughs in experimental techniques for dissecting RNA structure ensembles. This study will mark the beginning of an effort aimed at comprehensively characterizing the entire HJH ‘periodic table’.
Thermodynamic stabilities are not the sole determinant of the conformational distributions of cellular RNAs especially during transcription. This project focuses on conformational search and capture probability model of ‘simple’ tertiary RNA folding, the impacts of transcription using the same RNA and still simpler, more pliable model RNAs that can be used to systematically dissect features and factors important in co-transcriptional folding.
