Beyond kinetic traps in RNA folding

Abstract

Large RNAs often have rugged folding energy landscapes that result in severe misfolding and slow folding kinetics. Several interdependent parameters that contribute to misfolding are now well understood and examples of large RNAs and ribonucleoproteins that avoid kinetic traps have been reported. These advances have facilitated the exploration of fundamental RNA folding processes that were previously inaccessible.