Predicting oligonucleotide affinity to nucleic acid targets.

A computer program, OligoWalk, is reported that predicts the equilibrium affinity of complementary DNA or RNA oligonucleotides to an RNA target. This program considers the predicted stability of the oligonucleotide-target helix and the competition with predicted secondary structure of both the target and the oligonucleotide. Both unimolecular and bimolecular oligonucleotide self structure are considered with a user-defined concentration. The application of OligoWalk is illustrated with three comparisons to experimental results drawn from the literature.