Biological evolution is based on continual changes in the genomes of cells. If stable organisms are to develop nonetheless in the course of this process, low error rates (high accuracy) in both the replication of genes and their transcription and translation into proteins have to be assured. The overall error rates of these processes are measurable and can be estimated: they result from the error rates of the individual enzyme-catalyzed steps. In many cases, for example in the discrimination of the amino acids valine and isoleucine during protein biosynthesis, it is not possible to achieve a sufficient accuracy only on the basis of the difkrence of the free energies of binding of the correct and incorrect substrates (the two amino acids differ only in a CH2 group). The necessary low error rate is maintained by a n additional proofreading step, which is carried out by the enzymes involved after formation of the enzyme-substrate complex, either during catalysis or before product release. In this step, an incorrect intermediate or product is hydrolyzed. The energy input necessary for the synthesis of the incorrect intermediate or product, which is provided by hydrolysis of adenosine or guanosine triphosphate, is the price paid for the low error rates. In this article, the proofreading mechanisms of several enzymes-mainly those involved in DNA replication and the aminoacylation of transfer RNA during protein biosynthesis-are discussed.