Extensive assessment of metrics on RNA secondary structures and relative ensembles

The ability to properly compare RNA secondary conformations is of prominent importance in many RNA structural investigations, and particularly in the study of non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs). Several different metrics have been proposed to catch topological dissimilarities between RNA secondary structures, but so far specific metric features have not been assessed yet against extensive datasets. The choice of proper metrics is also crucial for the characterization of structural ensembles, so to be able to proficiently analyze them. The current availability of large ncRNA databases has made it possible to perform an extensive comparison of different metrics. Correlation analysis has uncovered the relative descriptive power of such metrics, providing indications on their possible practical use in different contexts.