Error Catastrophe Can Be Avoided by Proofreading Innate to Template-Directed Polymerization

Abstract

An important issue for the origins of life is ensuring the accurate maintenance of information in replicating polymers in the face of inevitable errors. Here, we investigated how this maintenance depends on reaction kinetics by incorporating the elementary steps of polymerization into the population dynamics of polymers. We found that template-directed polymerization entails an inherent error-correction mechanism akin to kinetic proofreading, generating long polymers that are more tolerant to an error catastrophe. Because this mechanism does not require enzymes, it is likely to operate under broad prebiotic conditions.