Exposing the kinetic traps in RNA folding

Large ribozymes fold on a 'glacial' timescale compared to the folding of th eir protein counterparts. The sluggish folding exhibited by large RNAs resu lts from the formation of kinetically trapped, misfolded intermediates, whi ch are nonessential features of the folding mechanism, Newly developed muta nt ribozymes that avoid kinetic traps should facilitate the study of the RN A folding problem.