Efficient and scalable modelling of cotranscriptional RNA folding with deterministic and iterative RNA structure sampling (opens in new tab)

RNA structure sampling is central to modelling RNA ensembles, yet stochastic sampling methods are non-exhaustive, scale poorly, and are biased towards low-free-energy structures, while current suboptimal folding approaches generate an unpredictable exponential number of structures. These limitations are particularly problematic for modelling cotranscriptional folding, where vectorial synthesis continuously reshapes the energy landscape during transcription, stabilising transient out-of-equili...