LargeN Random Matrices for RNA Folding

We review a recent formulation of the RNA folding problem as an N ×N matrix field theory. It is based on a systematic classification of the terms in the partition function according to their topological character. In particular large-N terms yield the secondary structures, whereas pseudoknots are obtained by calculating the 1/N corrections. We also describe a Monte Carlo algorithm for the prediction of RNA secondary structures with pseudoknots, based on this topological approach.