The broad range of functions supported by RNAs is achieved through specific
structures which have (presumably) been optimized through evolution. Through a
efficient exploration of the mutation landscape, we apply statistical mechanics
techniques to design a novel computational framework, RNAmutants, for
estimating the evolutionary pressure that has been applied on a sequence.
We have successfully applied RNAmutants to investigate deleterious
mutations(mutations that radically modify secondary structure) in the Hepatitis
C virus cis-acting replication element and to evaluate the evolutionary pressure
applied on different regions of the HIV trans-activation response element.
We hope that there will be long-term potential applications of RNAmutants in de
novo RNA design and drug design against RNA viruses.
