Anthropic uses Claude to uncover new CRISPR‑like enzyme system in phages
The ART enzyme system hints at new biology and shows how large AI agents can help surface candidates for lab follow‑up.
Anthropic has announced that its new Bay Area wet lab, working with its Claude AI models, has identified a previously unknown enzyme system in bacteriophages that shows CRISPR-like, DNA‑manipulating characteristics. Claude discovered the system—named array-associated reverse transcriptases (ART)—by autonomously scanning a large DNA sequence database for unusual reverse transcriptases, with humans only providing the initial prompt and later performing the physical experiments. Roughly 950 Claude agents ran for 21 hours and consumed about 210 million tokens before one agent flagged a distinctive repeat-DNA pattern next to an atypical reverse transcriptase gene, leading to the finding. Anthropic has released a preprint and attracted commentary from CRISPR pioneer Feng Zhang, but the company stresses that ART’s biological function and practical applications are still unknown. The work is framed as an early demonstration of AI-assisted basic biology and part of Anthropic’s broader push into life sciences and drug discovery, even as external observers note that similar AI-for-biology efforts are underway at other institutions and companies.
Why it matters
This work shows an AI system doing more than assisting with analysis: hundreds of Claude agents autonomously sifted through a massive DNA database, picked out a strange reverse transcriptase flanked by repeat DNA, and handed humans a concrete lead that turned into a new CRISPR‑like enzyme system in bacteriophages. Researchers now have a fresh class of array‑associated reverse transcriptases to study, with their function still unclear but flagged by both Anthropic and outside experts as a promising direction for basic biology.
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