EteRNA is a citizen science project where people help to create synthetic RNA designs. On their website, they state that their purpose is to “help reveal new principles for designing RNA-based switches and nanomachines — new systems for seeking and eventually controlling living cells and disease-causing viruses. By interacting with thousands of players and learning from real experimental feedback, you will be pioneering a completely new way to do science.”[1] The game starts off with the tutorial teaching you about the different RNA bases: Adenine (A), Guanine (G), Uracil (U), and Cytosine (C). You are given the task to mutate certain bases on a molecule to try to mimic a shape given to you.
In the tutorial, you are taught different characteristics of RNA, and as the player, you use these characteristics to create a desired RNA molecule. For example, in the below screenshot, they will tell you about base pairings and different ways an entire molecule can connect. In this screenshot, the ends connected, forming a circular molecule.
In the below screenshot, circled in blue, this is the structure that needs to be recreated by mutating certain base pairs. Toward the bottom of the screen, there are varying base pairings besides the usual “A-U, C-G” pairs, and the strength of the bonds are given. The initial base structure that is given to you has all adenine bases. Combining and playing around with different pairings and mutations, you would try to create the circled structure.
After the tutorial and you have the basics, you get slightly more difficult structures and are given some restrictions. In the following puzzle, you must have a certain number of G-U pairs and G-C pairs while trying to make the structure in the first icon given.
The idea behind this entire puzzle game is to create a library of all the different patterns of pairings that could be made in order to create a specific RNA. In the above screen shot, the structure is an actual structure of a plant called arabidopsis thaliana, and users came up with a pattern in order to recreate that structure. Perhaps somewhere down the line in the game, a RNA of a virus can be created, which would give scientists different ways a virus could be surviving.
In theory, it sounds really interesting – that people who may or may not be in the field of genetics, are virtually creating synthetic RNA molecules that exist in real life. However, it is difficult to say whether or not this would be considered “real science.” For people who do not know much about genetics, this is a really easy and fun way to introduce the very basics of RNA to them. On the other hand, there is really no reasoning behind the patterns the player is picking. When I was playing the game, I was randomly choosing pairings to link parts together. I do not have the biochemistry/genetics knowledge to justify any pattern I pick.
In the about section of the game, they stated that they want users to create these molecules because for very large molecules, computers would take a very long time to run, and users are likely to find faster and better patterns [1]. However, I doubt users would play up to the point where they can get to really big molecules that would actually contribute to what the scientists need. Rather than say this is a citizen science project, I think this would be better as an educational tool to teach students the mechanisms of RNA pairings and folding.
