ProbKnot: fast prediction of RNA secondary structure including pseudoknots

Abstract

It is a significant challenge to predict RNA secondary structures including pseudoknots. Here, a new algorithm capable of predicting pseudoknots of any topology, ProbKnot, is reported. ProbKnot assembles maximum expected accuracy structures from computed base-pairing probabilities in O(N(2)) time, where N is the length of the sequence. The performance of ProbKnot was measured by comparing predicted structures with known structures for a large database of RNA sequences with fewer than 700 nucleotides. The percentage of known pairs correctly predicted was 69.3%. Additionally, the percentage of predicted pairs in the known structure was 61.3%. This performance is the highest of four tested algorithms that are capable of pseudoknot prediction. The program is available for download at: http://rna.urmc.rochester.edu/RNAstructure.html.

FIGURE 1.

Predicted secondary structure of group I intron from T. thermophila by ProbKnot. Thick lines represent correctly predicted base pairs; thin lines represent incorrectly predicted base pairs. The boxed helices, labeled S₁ and S₂, are the two helices that define the pseudoknot.