RNA Folding

A single-stranded molecule collapses in on itself, base-pairing with complementary positions, finding minimum free energy in milliseconds. The sequence is the instructions; the shape is the machine.

Example Sequences

Base Legend

A — Adenine

U — Uracil

G — Guanine

C — Cytosine

Watson-Crick pairs: A–U · G–C
Wobble pair: G–U (weaker, but valid)
Only anti-parallel strands can pair

Fold Statistics

Bases

Pairs

Loops

–ΔG (kcal)

Folding energy0%

The Reframe

RNA does not need a separate machine to fold — it IS the machine. The sequence encodes both the information AND the shape that carries out a function. A string of letters becomes a catalyst with no protein required. Life found computation before brains did.