An RNA foldability metric; implications for the design of rapidly foldable RNA sequences.

Evidence is presented suggesting, for the first time, that the protein foldability metric sigma = (T(theta)-T(f))/T(theta), where T(theta) and T(f) are, respectively, the collapse and folding transition temperatures, could be used also to measure the foldability of RNA sequences. These results provide further evidence of similarities between the folding energy landscapes of proteins and RNA. The importance of sigma is discussed in the context of the in silico design of rapidly foldable RNA sequences.