RNA folding kinetics describes the dynamical process of how a RNA molecule
approach to its unique folded biological active conformation (often
referred to as the native state) starting from an initial ensemble of
disordered conformations e.g. the unfolded open chain. The key for
resolving the dynamical behavior of a folding RNA chain lies in the
understanding of the ways in which the molecule explores its astronomically
large free energy landscape, a rugged and complex hyper-surface established
by all the feasible base pairing patterns a RNA sequence can form. The
challenge is to understand how the interplay of formation and break up of
base pairing interactions along the RNA chain can lead to an efficient
search in the energy landscape which reaches the native state of the
molecule on a biologically meaningful time scales.
Subsections