The long and short of templated copying
Jenny Poulton

TL;DR
This paper explores the thermodynamics and kinetics of templated copying in biological systems, emphasizing the necessity of free energy input for accurate copying and analyzing it as a non-equilibrium information engine.
Contribution
It provides a thermodynamic and kinetic analysis of templated copying, highlighting the importance of energy input and the non-equilibrium nature of the process.
Findings
Copying accuracy is limited by thermodynamic bounds at infinite length.
Finite length copying involves kinetic barriers affecting accuracy.
Copying systems can be modeled as non-equilibrium steady states and information engines.
Abstract
Templated copying is the central operation by which biology produces complex molecules. Cells copy sequence information from DNA to RNA and on into proteins, which are the molecules responsible for the function and regulation of cellular systems. In the templated copying process the template catalyses the formation of a second molecule carrying the same sequence. Traditionally, people have ignored the separation of the template and copy at the end of the process, but separation is necessary and fundamentally changes the thermodynamics of the process. In general, creating an accurate polymer costs free energy. Omitting separation, this cost can be compensated for by the extra free energy released by "correct" copy/template bonds. Separation requires these bonds be broken, so true copying requires an input of free energy. Equally the fact that copy/template bonds are temporary means there…
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Taxonomy
TopicsCancer Genomics and Diagnostics · Single-cell and spatial transcriptomics · Genomics and Rare Diseases
