Error threshold (evolution)
（重定向自Error threshold）
![Population numbers as a function of Hamming distance d and mutation rate (1-Q). The horizontal axis d is the Hamming distance of the molecular sequences from the master sequence. The vertical axis is the logarithm of population for any sequence at that distance divided by total population (thus the division of nd by the binomial coefficient). The total number of digits per sequence is L=100, and the master sequence has a selective advantage of a=1.05.](/Images/godic/202501/11/ErrorThreshold11530.png")
![The population of the master sequence as a fraction of the total population (n) as a function of overall mutation rate (1-Q). The total number of digits per sequence is L=100, and the master sequence has a selective advantage of a=1.05. The](/Images/godic/202501/11/ErrorThreshold21530.png")
In evolutionary biology and population genetics, the error threshold (or critical mutation rate) is a limit on the number of base pairs a self-replicating molecule may have before mutation will destroy the information in subsequent generations of the molecule. The error threshold is crucial to understanding "Eigen's paradox".