GROUNDING — h13 recombinases (proportionate pass, C-tier technology-watch)
G1 — h13 runs no computation and has no numerical constants
hypotheses/h13-recombinases/scripts/ is empty. phases/ holds two prose notes
(STRC Programmable Recombinases.md, STRC Lilly Seamless Recombinase Deal 2026.md).
There is no model, no parameter, no fitted value. STRC AGENTS.md §0c binds
“ANY computational step (MD, PK/PD, docking, kinetic model — anything with
numerical constants)”. h13 performs none, so there is nothing for the
literature-first rule to bite on. That is the finding, and it is why h13 can
close rather than stay open.
G2 — the one checkable quantity: STRC CDS = 5,325 bp
Verbatim from the h13 note:
“Full STRC (5,325 bp) exceeds AAV limit. Recombinases have no payload size constraint.”
Cross-checked inside the vault:
grep -rn "5,325\|5325\|1775 aa" sources/ notes/ parameters/
notes/STRC Gene Therapy Research.md:55— “Main challenge: STRC gene (5,325 bp) exceeds single-AAV capacity → dual-vector required.”notes/STRC Hearing Loss.md:48— “Challenge: STRC gene (5,325 bp) exceeds single-AAV limit → dual-vector required”notes/Prime Editing for STRC.md:21— “Instead of replacing the entire STRC gene (5,325 bp)…”notes/STRC K1141 Fragment Construct Strategy.md:20— “Full-length STRC = 1775 aa, GPI-anchored, heavily glycosylated.”
Evidential weight: STATES, internally consistent, arithmetically checkable.
1775 aa × 3 = 5325 nt of coding sequence exactly. The figure is a genomic fact
about a RefSeq entry, consistent across four independent vault notes and
self-consistent with the protein length used throughout h01/h03/h14. It is not a
measured physical parameter and needs no sources/lit/ note. The AAV single-vector
ceiling (~4.7 kb) that makes 5,325 bp a problem is textbook and is separately
carried in parameters/aav-cochlear-delivery.md.
G3 — the market claim, flagged and scoped out
Verbatim:
“Tome Biosciences acquired for $1.12B (January 2026). Market validating programmable recombinase technology for gene therapy.”
Evidential weight: UNVERIFIED, and out of §0c scope. This is a business fact,
not a physical constant; no model consumes it; the C tier rests on “technology
watch only,” which does not depend on the number being exact. It is recorded here
as a documentation gap rather than a lit_audit blocker — the distinction
matters, because inflating it into a blocker would misuse a field that is
supposed to mean “the science is not sourced.” If the figure is ever used to
justify escalating h13 to an active hypothesis, it needs a citation first.