Objective
Ribonucleic acid (RNA) is a large class of macromolecules that plays a key role in the communication of biological information between DNA and proteins. RNAs have been also shown to perform enzymatic catalysis. Recently, numerous new RNAs have been identified and shown to perform essential regulatory roles in cells.
As with proteins, the function of RNA depends on its structure, which in turn is encoded in the linear sequence. The secondary structure of RNA is defined by canonical base pairs, while the tertiary (3D) structure is formed mostly by non-canonical base pairs that form three-dimensional motifs. RNA is similar to proteins in that the development of methods for 3D structure prediction is absolutely essential to functionally interpret the information encoded in the primary sequence of genes. For proteins there are many freely available methods for automated protein 3D structure prediction that produce reasonably accurate and useful models. There are also methods for objective assessment of the protein model quality. However, there are no such methods for automated 3D structure modelling of RNA. There are only methods for RNA secondary structure prediction and a few methods for manual 3D modelling, but no automated methods for comparative modelling, fold-recognition of RNA, and evaluation of models. Only recently a few methods for de novo folding of RNA appeared, but they can provide useful models only for very short molecules.
Recently, inspired by methodology for protein modelling, we have developed prototype tools for both comparative (template-based) and de novo (template-free) modelling of RNA, which allow for building models for very large RNA molecules. These tools will be further optimized and tested. The major goal is to developed tools for RNA modelling to the level of existing protein-modelling methods and to combine RNA and protein-centric methods to allow multiscale modelling of protein-nucleic acid complexes, either with or without the aid of experimental data. This proposal also includes the development of methods for the assessment of model quality and benchmarking of methods. The software tools and the theoretical predictions will be extensively tested (also by experimental verification of models), optimized and applied to biologically and medically relevant RNAs and complexes.
In one sentence: The aim of this project is to use bioinformatics and experimental methods to crack the code of sequence-structure relationships in RNA and RNA-protein complexes and to revolutionise the field of RNA & RNP modelling and structure/function analyses.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: https://op.europa.eu/en/web/eu-vocabularies/euroscivoc.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: https://op.europa.eu/en/web/eu-vocabularies/euroscivoc.
- natural sciences biological sciences genetics DNA
- natural sciences biological sciences biochemistry biomolecules proteins
- natural sciences biological sciences genetics RNA
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Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
ERC-2010-StG_20091118
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Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Host institution
02109 Warszawa
Poland
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.