Nature’s Feedback-Driven Replication Optimization Loop: Purpose of Base Replication and the Onset of Life’s Evolution

Base replication, pivotal to life’s origin, optimizes energy (G -2.5 kcal/mol/site) and structural stability (survival 0.003–0.98 at 100°C) through a natural feedback-driven loop. Thermodynamic modeling quantifies single nucleotides (3.3 ×1060 events) pairing to lower free energy, and 20-nucleotide RNAs (1.2 ×1050 events) generating 1.34 ×1013–9.27 ×1013 variants daily (mutation rate 0.5%–5%/site), screened by environment. Positive feedback (micropore survival S = 0.891, amplifying to 1034 in 7 days) and negative feedback (100°C, S = 0.0033, 99.67% loss in 1 h) refine stability. Robustness holds across fGC (0.3–0.7) and pH (6.5–8.5), with lengths reaching 200 (5.6 ×1030 events), revealing evolutionary potential. This loop transitions replication from random to ordered, grounding life’s evolution.