Before revision:  Secondly, given separation, more work is always necessary to create a specific copy than a non-specific polymer of the same length. Finally, the mixing of copies from distinct templates makes correlations between template and copy sequences unexploitable, combining with copying inaccuracy to reduce the free energy stored in a polymer ensemble. This lower stored free energy in turn reduces the minimal entropy generation during non-specific depolymerization .
After revision:  Secondly, given separation, more work is always necessary to create a specific copy than a canonical biochemical readout network generates correlations; extracting no work from these correlations sets a lower bound on dissipation. For general input, the biochemical network cannot reach this bound, even with arbitrarily slow reactions or weak thermodynamic driving. It faces an accuracy-dissipation trade-off that is qualitatively distinct from and worse than implied by the bound, and more complex steady-state copy processes cannot perform better. Nonetheless, the cost remains close to the thermodynamic bound unless accuracy is extremely high. Additionally, we show that biomolecular reactions could be used in thermodynamically optimal devices under exogenous manipulation of chemical fuels, suggesting an experimental system for testing computational thermodynamics .