Interactions and Complexity of Small RNA

Over the last years it had become clear that small RNA molecules play

a central role in biology that has been overlooked for decades. Small

RNA systems are characterized by high density of interactions at

multiple scales, that collectively give rise to function. In this talk

I will describe our efforts to to learn how small RNA regulatory

functions stem from the structure of these underlying interactions.

After a brief review of the relevant biology, I will first address the

question how intra-molecular interactions determine the functional

properties of a small RNA, using a combination of quantitative

large-scale experiment and data-driven modeling. I will then turn to

discuss how the evolutionary imprint of genetic interactions can be

used to uncover regulatory strategies by solving an inverse problem of

statistical mechanics.