A. Orlitsky et Ss. Venkatesh, ON EDGE-COLORED INTERIOR PLANAR GRAPHS ON A CIRCLE AND THE EXPECTED NUMBER OF RNA SECONDARY STRUCTURES, Discrete applied mathematics, 64(2), 1996, pp. 151-178
Using a mathematical model for an RNA molecule as a family of disjoint
edge-colored interior planar graphs on a circle, we determine the exp
ected number of secondary RNA structures that can form under various a
ssumptions on the type and number of ribonucleotide bonds.