计算机科学 ›› 2026, Vol. 53 ›› Issue (3): 375-382.doi: 10.11896/jsjkx.250100005

• 人工智能 • 上一篇    下一篇

基于Transformer架构的RNA二级结构预测方法

喻定, 李章维   

  1. 浙江工业大学信息工程学院 杭州 310023
  • 收稿日期:2025-01-02 修回日期:2025-04-03 发布日期:2026-03-12
  • 通讯作者: 李章维(lzw@zjut.edu.cn)
  • 作者简介:(2112003059@zjut.edu.cn)
  • 基金资助:
    国家自然科学基金(61573317)

Prediction Method of RNA Secondary Structure Based on Transformer Architecture

YU Ding, LI Zhangwei   

  1. College of Information Engineering, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou 310023, China
  • Received:2025-01-02 Revised:2025-04-03 Online:2026-03-12
  • About author:YU Ding,born in 1999,postgraduate.His main research interest is intelligent information processing.
    LI Zhangwei,born in 1967,Ph.D,associate professor.His main research in-terest is intelligent information proces-sing.
  • Supported by:
    National Natural Science Foundation of China(61573317).

摘要: RNA二级结构预测是生物信息学中的核心问题,近年来,深度学习技术的发展为该领域带来了显著进步。然而,现有方法在预测精度和对外部先验模型的依赖性方面仍存在不足,这些限制可能对模型的鲁棒性和泛化能力造成影响。针对上述问题,提出了一种基于Transformer架构的RNA二级结构预测模型。该模型设计了两条特征编码通路,通过线性嵌入和独热编码生成序列特征,并利用交叉注意力机制高效融合两种特征表示。在特征提取阶段,模型采用改进的Swin-Transformer与U-Net相结合的架构(Swin-UNet),实现深层次特征提取,并最终生成RNA二级结构配对概率矩阵。实验结果表明,该模型在多个标准数据集上的F1得分领先了其他模型3%以上,且无须依赖外部模型的先验信息。研究结果为RNA结构预测提供了新的解决方案,同时展现了Transformer架构在生物序列分析中的广阔前景。

关键词: RNA二级结构预测, 深度学习, Swin-Transformer, 交叉注意力, U-Net

Abstract: RNA secondary structure prediction is a core problem in bioinformatics,and recent advancements in deep learning have significantly propelled progress in this field.However,existing methods still face limitations in prediction accuracy and reliance on external prior models,which may compromise the robustness and generalization capabilities of these models.To address these issues,this paper proposes a Transformer-based model for RNA secondary structure prediction.The model designs dual feature encoding pathways,generating sequence features through linear embedding and one-hot encoding,and efficiently fuses these two feature representations using a cross-attention mechanism.During the feature extraction phase,the model employs an improved architecture combining Swin-Transformer and U-net(Swin-Unet) to achieve deep-level feature extraction,ultimately producing a pairing probability matrix for RNA secondary structures.Experimental results show that the proposed model achieves over 3% higher F1-scores than other models on multiple benchmark datasets without relying on prior information from external models.This study provides a novel solution for RNA structure prediction and highlights the promising potential of Transformer architectures in biological sequence analysis.

Key words: Prediction of RNA secondary structure, Deep learning, Swin-Transformer, Cross-attention, U-Net

中图分类号: 

  • TP389
[1]SUN J,ZHANG J,FANG X Y.Research progress on RNAhigh-order structure determination[J].Chemistry of Life,2024,44(9):1638-1649.
[2]ZENG C W,ZHAO Y J.Advances in RNA-protein structureprediction[J].Science China Physics,Mechanics & Astronomy,2023,53(9):222-232.
[3]CHEN Z R,HUANG J H,LI B,et al.Applications of Computational Biology inRNA Research[J].Science China:Life Scien-ces,2024,54(4):668-693.
[4]DONG Y Y,PENG Q,WANG M,et al.Research progress on the replication mechanisms of important human-infecting RNA viruses and polymerase-directed drug development[J].Biome-dical Transformation,2024,5(1):2-11.
[5]LING X Y,LIU R.The impact of X-ray diffraction crystallography on DNA double helix[J].Emerging Science and Technology,2023,2(1):9-18.
[6]PAN Z L,JIA X Y,SU Z M.Recent advances in RNA cryo-EM structure determination[J].Science China:Life Sciences,2024,54(8):1424-1438.
[7]SLOMA M F,ZUKER M,MATHEWS D H.Predictive me-thods using RNA sequences[M]//RNA Structure and Folding.New York:Humana Press,2014:27-43.
[8]DING Y,LAWRENCE C E.A statistical sampling algorithm for RNA secondary structure prediction[J].Nucleic Acids Research,2003,31(24):7280-7301.
[9]SHAPIRO B A,NAVETTA J.A massively parallel genetic algorithm for RNA secondary structure prediction[J].The Journal of Supercomputing,1994,8:195-207.
[10]CHEN J H,LE S Y,MAIZEL J V.Prediction of common se-condary structures of RNAs:a genetic algorithm approach[J].Nucleic Acids Research,2000,28(4):991-999.
[11]GEIS M,MIDDENDORF M.Particle swarm optimization forfinding RNA secondary structures[J].International Journal of Intelligent Computing and Cybernetics,2011,4(2):160-186.
[12]DO C B,WOODS D A,BATZOGLOU S.CONTRAfold:RNA secondary structure prediction without physics-based models[J].Bioinformatics,2006,22(14):e90-e98.
[13]ZAKOV S,GOLDBERG Y,ELHADAD M,et al.Rich parameterization improves RNA structure prediction[J].Journal of Computational Biology,2011,18(11):1525-1542.
[14]ZHANG H,ZHANG C,LI Z,et al.A new method of RNA se-condary structure prediction based on convolutional neural network and dynamic programming[J].Frontiers in Genetics,2019,10:467.
[15]QUAN L,CAI L,CHEN Y,et al.Developing parallel ant colonies filtered by deep learned constrains for predicting RNA se-condary structure with pseudo-knots[J].Neurocomputing,2020,384:104-114.
[16]CHEN X,LI Y,UMAROV R,et al.RNA Secondary Structure Prediction By Learning Unrolled Algorithms[C]//Proceedings of the 2020 International Conference on Learning Representations(ICLR).2020:1-19.
[17]SINGH J,HANSON J,PALIWAL K,et al.RNA secondarystructure prediction using an ensemble of two-dimensional deep neural networks and transfer learning[J].Nature Communications,2019,10(1):5407.
[18]FU L,CAO Y,WU J,et al.UFold:fast and accurate RNA se-condary structure prediction with deep learning[J].Nucleic Acids Research,2022,50(3):e14.
[19]YANG E,ZHANG H,ZANG Z,et al.GCNfold:A novel lightweight model with valid extractors for RNA secondary structure prediction[J].Computers in Biology and Medicine,2023,164:107246.
[20]KANG L,SU Z J.Principle and prospect of image data enhancement technology[J].Information Technology,2024(9):176-185.
[21]LYU J,WANG Z Y.A Survey of Retinal Vessel Segmentation Algorithms Based on Deep Learning[J].Journal of Chongqing Normal University(Natural Science),2024,41(4):110-125.
[22]PAN X,GE C,LU R,et al.On the integration of self-attention and convolution[C]//Proceedings of the IEEE/CVF Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition.2022:815-825.
[23]RONNEBERGER O,FISCHER P,BROX T.U-net:Convolu-tional networks for biomedical image segmentation[C]//Medical Image Computing and Computer-assisted Intervention-MICCAI 2015:18th International Conference.Springer,2015:234-241.
[24]LIU Z,LIN Y,CAO Y,et al.Swin transformer:Hierarchical vision transformer using shifted windows[C]//Proceedings of the IEEE/CVF International Conference on Computer Vision.2021:10012-10022.
[25]HENDRYCKS D,GIMPEL K.Gaussian error linear units(gelus)[J].arXiv:1606.08415,2016.
[26]TAN Z,FU Y,SHARMA G,et al.TurboFold II:RNA structuralalignment and secondary structure prediction informed by multiple homologs[J].Nucleic Acids Research,2017,45(20):11570-11581.
[27]SLOMA M F,MATHEWS D H.Exact calculation of loop formation probability identifies folding motifs in RNA secondary structures[J].RNA,2016,22(12):1808-1818.
[28]ZUKER M.Mfold web server for nucleic acid folding and hybridization prediction[J].Nucleic Acids Research,2003,31(13):3406-3415.
[29]YUAN Y,YANG E,ZHANG R.Wfold:A new method for predicting RNA secondary structure with deep learning[J].Computers in Biology and Medicine,2024,182:109207.
[30]LORENZ R,BERNHART S H,HÖNER ZU SIEDERDISSEN C,et al.ViennaRNA Package 2.0[J].Algorithms for Molecular Biology,2011,6:1-14.
Viewed
Full text


Abstract

Cited

  Shared   
  Discussed   
No Suggested Reading articles found!