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Midnight RNA Structure
John Bracht (post-doc)
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
This striking RNA structure was produced in my research on RNA folding (to be specific: non-coding RNAs in the ciliate Oxytricha trifallax). The structure prediction represented here was produced with mFold, a software tool that calculates the minimum free energy (delta G) for folding a given nucleic acid sequence via intra-molecular interactions. This image probably does not represent a biologically realistic structure but it is aesthetically intriguing.