Regensburg 2025 – wissenschaftliches Programm
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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik
BP 20: Statistical Physics of Biological Systems I (joint session BP/DY)
BP 20.10: Vortrag
Mittwoch, 19. März 2025, 17:45–18:00, H44
RNA fitness prediction with sparse physics based models - A way to explore the sequence space — •Christian Faber1, Francesco Calvanese2, Alexander Schug1, and Martin Weigt3 — 1Forschungszentrum Jülich, Jülich, Germany — 2Sorbonne-Université, Paris, France — 3CNRS, Paris, France
The field of medicine uses macromolecules as a means of therapeutic intervention. Consequently, the functional attributes of these novel molecules are assuming greater significance. To complement the wet-lab experiments, we have devised a series of statistical physics based models that are capable of predicting the fitness of RNA molecules based on one- and two-point mutation scans. The experimental data were employed as training data to fit models of increasing complexity, commencing with an additive model and concluding with a model that accounts for global and local epistasis. The models were validated using fitness data from scans with higher order mutations of the wild-type. In contrast to conventional AI algorithms, the parameters of our models were designed for direct interpretation. In examining more distant sequences, we can distinguish the corresponding RNA family from random sequences with a high degree of accuracy. Moreover, the models facilitate interpretations of evolutionary processes and the significance of epistatic terms. Our model can be used to create a fitness landscape far beyond the experimental sequence space, thus identifying promising RNA molecules. Furthermore, the extension to the entire sequence space can be used as a blueprint for other molecules, providing a novel avenue for questions in biomolecular design.
Keywords: RNA; Fitness Prediction; Epistasis