Molecular Simulations of RNA Folding and Function
An emerging challenge in biophysical descriptions of RNA is to elucidate the connection between structure, dynamics and function in vivo. Recent experiments identified unexpected structuring in the RNA transcriptome, indicating regulatory roles for instance in splicing. A major aim of our project is to establish a bridge between secondary-structure prediction and high-resolution structural biology. In a hierarchical formulation using molecular mechanics and simulations, we will first construct extensive ensembles of single-stranded RNA and connect them to NMR, PELDOR and FRET experiments. By combining structured and unstructured segments, we then aim to gain insight into splice regulation on the SMN2 system characterized also experimentally. More
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Max Planck Institut für Biophysik
Max-von-Laue-Straße 3
60438 Frankfurt am Main
Co-Workers on RNA
Marcel Heinz
PhD. Student
Simulation of chemically modified nucleic acids
Email: marcel.heinz@biophys.mpg.de
Lisa Pietrek
PhD. Student
Disordered Structural analysis of disordered biomolecules
Email: lipietre@biophys.mpg.de