Evidence map›Paper›PMID 27438572›Full record

ArticleJournal of chemical theory and computation2016

Computer Folding of RNA Tetraloops: Identification of Key Force Field Deficiencies.

Petra Kührová, Robert B Best, Sandro Bottaro, Giovanni Bussi, Jiří Šponer, Michal Otyepka, Pavel Banáš

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Journal of chemical theory and computation, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 57 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
57citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

57 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Article
  3. Article
  4. Destabilization of Structured RNAs by OPC and TIP4PD Water Models.Journal of chemical theory and computation · 2026
    Article
  5. Article
  6. Force fields matter in DNA polProtein science : a publication of the Protein Society · 2026
    Article
  7. The Kink-Turn 7 Motif: An Additional Test for RNA Force Field Performance.Journal of chemical theory and computation · 2025
    Article
  8. Article
  9. Article
  10. Article
  11. Review
  12. Inferring phase transitions and critical exponents from limited observations with thermodynamic maps.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2024
    Article
  13. Article
  14. Review
  15. Article
  16. Accurately Modeling RNA Stem-Loops in an Implicit Solvent Environment.Journal of chemical information and modeling · 2024
    Article
  17. Review
  18. Article
  19. Article
  20. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

7 authors.

Petra KührováRegional Centre of Advanced Technologies and Materials, Department of Physical Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Palacky University Olomouc , 17. listopadu 12, 771 46 Olomouc, Czech Republic.
Robert B BestLaboratory of Chemical Physics, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, National Institutes of Health , Bethesda, Maryland 20892-0520, United States.
Sandro BottaroScuola Internazionale Superiore di Studi Avanzati , Via Bonomea 265, 34136 Trieste, Italy.
Giovanni BussiScuola Internazionale Superiore di Studi Avanzati , Via Bonomea 265, 34136 Trieste, Italy.
Jiří ŠponerRegional Centre of Advanced Technologies and Materials, Department of Physical Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Palacky University Olomouc , 17. listopadu 12, 771 46 Olomouc, Czech Republic.
Michal OtyepkaRegional Centre of Advanced Technologies and Materials, Department of Physical Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Palacky University Olomouc , 17. listopadu 12, 771 46 Olomouc, Czech Republic.
Pavel BanášRegional Centre of Advanced Technologies and Materials, Department of Physical Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Palacky University Olomouc , 17. listopadu 12, 771 46 Olomouc, Czech Republic.

Funding

Understanding protein folding, evolution and function via molecular simulationZIADK075104 · NIDDK · NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF DIABETES AND DIGESTIVE AND KIDNEY DISEASES · PI BEST, ROBERT · 2013 to 2025
$13.7M
Intramural NIH HHS Z99 DK999999
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

The computer-aided folding of biomolecules, particularly RNAs, is one of the most difficult challenges in computational structural biology. RNA tetraloops are fundamental RNA motifs playing key roles in RNA folding and RNA-RNA and RNA-protein interactions. Although state-of-the-art Molecular Dynamics (MD) force fields correctly describe the native state of these tetraloops as a stable free-energy basin on the microsecond time scale, enhanced sampling techniques reveal that the native state is not the global free energy minimum, suggesting yet unidentified significant imbalances in the force fields. Here, we tested our ability to fold the RNA tetraloops in various force fields and simulation settings. We employed three different enhanced sampling techniques, namely, temperature replica exchange MD (T-REMD), replica exchange with solute tempering (REST2), and well-tempered metadynamics (WT-MetaD). We aimed to separate problems caused by limited sampling from those due to force-field inaccuracies. We found that none of the contemporary force fields is able to correctly describe folding of the 5'-GAGA-3' tetraloop over a range of simulation conditions. We thus aimed to identify which terms of the force field are responsible for this poor description of TL folding. We showed that at least two different imbalances contribute to this behavior, namely, overstabilization of base-phosphate and/or sugar-phosphate interactions and underestimated stability of the hydrogen bonding interaction in base pairing. The first artifact stabilizes the unfolded ensemble, while the second one destabilizes the folded state. The former problem might be partially alleviated by reparametrization of the van der Waals parameters of the phosphate oxygens suggested by Case et al., while in order to overcome the latter effect we suggest local potentials to better capture hydrogen bonding interactions.

Indexed as

Molecular Dynamics SimulationHydrogen BondingNucleic Acid ConformationRNARNA FoldingRNA StabilityStatic ElectricityTemperatureRNA

Identifiers

PMID27438572
PMCPMC6169534

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.