Approaches to characterize structural properties of RNA

The secondary structure of an RNA molecule is fundamental for its function. However, structural conservation and the structure of RNA in vivo are still poorly understood. Data from recent high-throughput experiments can provide new insights, but they have not yet been systematically exploited. The a...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autor: Delli Ponti, Riccardo
Tipo de recurso: tesis doctoral
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2019
País:España
Institución:CBUC, CESCA
Repositorio:TDR. Tesis Doctorales en Red
OAI Identifier:oai:www.tdx.cat:10803/665962
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/10803/665962
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:RNA secondary structure
IncRNAs
Machine learning
Structural conservation
SHAPE
Estructura secundaria ARN
Conservación estructural
577
Descripción
Sumario:The secondary structure of an RNA molecule is fundamental for its function. However, structural conservation and the structure of RNA in vivo are still poorly understood. Data from recent high-throughput experiments can provide new insights, but they have not yet been systematically exploited. The aim of my doctoral studies was to exploit these experimental data to develop computational approaches for discovering and analyzing structural properties of RNA. I developed two algorithms: CROSS predicts the secondary structure propensity profile of an RNA, and CROSSalign discovers structural similarities among different RNAs. In addition, I studied the effect of the presence of protein binding motifs on the prediction of the RNA structure, in vivo and investigated how the propensity of RNAs to bind to proteins could be exploited to create a predictive tool. The suite of tools that I developed opens new possibilities for studying the structural properties of long RNA molecules and for investigating structural conservation in large-scale analyses.