Discussion for Problems 6.6, 6.14, 6.24

We'll go over solutions to these on Tuesday. Meanwhile, you are strongly encouraged to try to work them out for yourselves. Please post your ideas or difficulties you run into, in the comments.

Discussion on Feb. 7 lecture

Hi class,

One student pointed out that some of my statements about the biology of RNA secondary structure may not have been factual. Let me try to correct this to the extent I can. Anyone should feel free to add further information or corrections in the Comments section.

(1) RNA is not a protein. But it plays a key role "directing" the synthesis of proteins within the ribosomes of every cell.
(2) I may have referred to bases as "molecules," whereas they are just constituents--the entire RNA strand is a single giant molecule.
(3) The shapes formed by RNA are 3D, so can't really be drawn properly on a whiteboard. On the other hand, I don't think this invalidates the book's assertion that the "non-crossing" condition, the "matching" condition, and the "no sharp turns" conditions are usually all true. These were all that the algorithm really needed, not for there to be a good 2D drawing of the final shape.

Wikipedia: RNA

Problem Set #2 (6.8, 6.10)

Comments section now open for discussion.