EFFECT OF THE ENERGY OF LONG-RANGE CONTACTS ON THE TIME OF SEARCHING FOR THE NATIVE STRUCTURE OF RNA-LIKE HETEROPOLYMERS

The effect of the energy of long-range contacts on the time of searchi ng for the native structure was studied in a simple model of RNA secon dary structure by the Monte Carlo method. ''Geometrically'' edited seq uences, in which the energies and the lengths of native contacts are i nterrelated (the larger the distance between chain segments, the stron ger: the contact formed between them), were shown to find their native state in the optimal range of the external parameters (temperature an d solvent quality) an order of magnitude more rapidly than the initial random sequences.