262

Ramachandran Plot  Calculates the phi and psi torsion angles in the protein, providing a

graphical overview of the distribution of α-helices and β-sheets.

Random Systems  Description of systems where the behavior is unpredictable for a short

time, such as dice roll (you can’t predict the next roll, but the result space can be predicted,

can only be one to six). 

Recall(Sensitivity)  Indicates how many of the hits are also stored in the database as real

entries (correct-positive rate, i.e. proportion of correctly grouped hits out of the total of

correct hits, e.g. potentially predicted interaction partners that are experimentally vali­

dated or persons grouped as ill who are actually ill).

Regression (Regression Analysis)  Statistical procedure to find correlations and relation­

ships between a dependent (explained variable, regressand) and independent (explanatory

variable, regressor) variable(s). The most common are linear regression, logistic regres­

sion or Cox regression (survival time analysis).

Regulatory RNA Elements  Motifs of RNA (characterized by specific sequence, struc­

ture and folding energy) that perform important regulatory functions and regulate tran­

scription and translation, e.g. iron-responsive elements (IRE, regulate iron metabolism in

humans and animals depending on the iron content of the cell) and riboswitches (regulate

gene expression in prokaryotes). 

RNA (Ribonucleic Acid)  Biochemically, a mixture of nucleotides that are all linked by a

ribose sugar and a phosphate “backbone” to form a long molecule, the RNA single strand.

Product of transcription and serves as an information carrier (mRNA) for the synthesis of

proteins. RNA can simultaneously store information, but also form secondary structures

and, when folded appropriately, accelerate reactions like an enzyme, forming an RNA

enzyme, called a ribozyme for short. Therefore, even before the genetic code, a few hun­

dred million years after the origin of life, there was the RNA world, in which RNA organ­

isms with ribozymes and RNA genomes were important forms of life. 

RNA World  see RNA. 

Sars-CoV  see Pandemic. 

Sars-CoV-2  see Pandemic.

Sars Virus  see Pandemic.

SBML (Systems Biology Markup Language)  Storage format of bioinformatics for sys­

tems biology. For example, this explains networks (e.g. metabolic or regulatory) well,

making them machine-readable (as XML), such as for CellDesigner and SQUAD. 

18  Glossary