Analytical description of finite size effects for RNA secondary structures

Abstract

The ensemble of RNA secondary structures of uniform sequences is studied analytically. We calculate the partition function for very long sequences and discuss how the cross-over length, beyond which asymptotic scaling laws apply, depends on thermodynamic parameters. For realistic choices of parameters this length can be much longer than natural RNA molecules. This has to be taken into account when applying asymptotic theory to interpret experiments or numerical results.

10 pages, 13 figures, published in Phys. Rev. E

References in corpus (5)

• Statistical mechanics of secondary structures formed by random RNA sequences
• RNA secondary structure formation: a solvable model of heteropolymer folding
• Glassy transition in a disordered model for the RNA secondary structure
• Comment on `Glassy Transition in a Disordered Model for the RNA Secondary Structure'
• Protein folding, anisotropic collapse and blue phases

Cited by in corpus (6)

• The Freezing of Random RNA
• RNA secondary structure design
• Model for Folding and Aggregation in RNA Secondary Structures
• Dependence of RNA secondary structure on the energy model
• Interplay between single-stranded binding proteins on RNA secondary structure
• On the behavior of random RNA secondary structures near the glass transition