Complete probabilistic analysis of RNA shapes

Background  

Soon after the first algorithms for RNA folding became available, it was recognised that the prediction of only one energetically optimal structure is insufficient to achieve reliable results. An in-depth analysis of the folding space as a whole appeared necessary to deduce the structural properties of a given RNA molecule reliably. Folding space analysis comprises various methods such as suboptimal folding, computation of base pair probabilities, sampling procedures and abstract shape analysis. Common to many approaches is the idea of partitioning the folding space into classes of structures, for which certain properties can be derived.