An improved algorithm for nucleic acid secondary structure display.

An improved algorithm for the display of nucleic acid secondary structures is presented. It is particularly suitable for large sequence segments and it automatically generates an aesthetically pleasing display of the structure with very limited overlap of strands. Structural similarities in different structures are conserved in the display thus greatly aiding structural homology comparisons. Using the algorithm, we illustrate the effect of ribosome translocation on the secondary structure of a rat neuropeptide messenger RNA.