{"schema":"pubphys.bundle/1","record":{"author":{"account_ref":null,"orcid":null},"builds_on":[],"content_schema":"pubphys.content.revision/1","content_sha256":"68d2f75c09f83f9f2e1296637e75e31d0588bb7ba1ec4fb333fcd59adfac8c8a","created":"2026-10-15T23:43:22Z","files":[],"origin":{"assisted_by":[],"kind":"seed"},"parents":["8aaed1dcd560a600129acd0dd86a97cd9c23220db52fd17487162a2763690a12","ce59fb6cd812fc05906d0c60a71c75ea22bc686bcf38e7c3ef7010834d98ee7b"],"salt":"a4e18f34abfb3bedd4a9397dda6aec2d0874bc29df7caa7f6c2ff7a6b7a196ec","schema":"pubphys.record/2","site":"pubphys.com","target":null,"type":"revision"},"content":{"answer_type":"mechanism","assisted_by":[],"external_id":"bio.origin-of-life.error-threshold-paradox","kind":"well-posed","literature_status":"partially-resolved","n":"2","parents":[],"plain":"Copying without enzymes is sloppy, so only short sequences survive copying errors, yet an accurate copying enzyme needs a sequence long enough to encode it. A 2026 RNA enzyme only 45 letters long narrowed this gap, and which mechanism kept genetic information intact over many generations is still open.","posed_since":"1971","precise":"With nonenzymatic copying fidelity $q \\sim 0.9\\ \\text{to}\\ 0.99$ per nucleotide, $L_{\\max} \\sim \\ln(\\sigma)/(1 - q)$ is tens to about a hundred nucleotides; polymerase ribozymes derived from the class I ligase are about 200 nucleotides long, while the 45-nucleotide QT45 ribozyme (Science 2026) copies at $q = 0.941$, giving $L_{\\max} \\sim 17 \\ln(\\sigma)$. Find a mechanism (compartments with group selection, hypercycles, template-directed ligation of short oligomers, spatial structure on surfaces) that maintains information content exceeding $L_{\\max}$ over many replication rounds, stable against parasitic sequences, for a replicase that copies itself from mononucleotides or mixed-length feedstocks, with parameters measured in prebiotic chemistry.","problem_ref":"8aaed1dcd560a600129acd0dd86a97cd9c23220db52fd17487162a2763690a12","references":"","settled_by":"A quantitative model with experimentally measured copying, ligation and compartment-division rates showing maintained information above $L_{\\max}$, ideally confirmed in an experiment.","status_note":"A 45-nucleotide polymerase ribozyme (2026) brought the replicator size close to the error threshold; maintenance against parasites over many rounds has not been demonstrated.","title":"Escape from Eigen's paradox for prebiotic 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