Depth-First Search Encoding of RNA Substructures

RNA structural motifs are important in RNA folding process. Traditional index-based and shape-based schemas are useful in modeling RNA secondary structures but ignore the structural discrepancy of individual RNA family member. Further, the in-depth analysis of underlying substructure pattern is underdeveloped owing to varied and unnormalized substructures. This prevents us from understanding RNAs functions. This article proposes a DFS (depth-first search) encoding for RNA substructures. The results show that our methods are useful in modelling complex RNA secondary structures.