Anthropic's Claude AI identifies novel enzyme system in DNA search

Anthropic's life sciences research group has announced that its Claude AI model autonomously identified a previously uncharacterized enzyme system with structural similarities to CRISPR, according to a statement from the company.

The system, which Anthropic researchers have named array-associated reverse transcriptases (ART), was found in bacteriophages — viruses that infect bacteria. It consists of three components: a reverse transcriptase (RT), a partner gene, and a long array of evenly spaced DNA repeat sequences. While the underlying RT, found in a jumbo phage, had been identified in prior studies, Claude appears to be the first to identify the system's defining features, including an associated array of non-coding DNA sequences and an accessory protein of unknown function.

The discovery came after roughly 950 Claude agents spent 21 hours searching a large DNA sequence database using approximately 210 million tokens. The agents gathered over 200,000 RTs, narrowed these to 3,500 candidate systems, and ultimately produced reports on the 20 most compelling candidates.

Feng Zhang, a professor at MIT and the Broad Institute and a pioneer of CRISPR genome editing, commented on the pre-print: "The identification of RNA-repeat arrays associated with reverse transcriptases is genuinely intriguing and merits further investigation."

Anthropic formed its life sciences research group in the spring of 2026. The Bay Area laboratory conducts research at biosafety levels BSL-1 and BSL-2 and does not handle pathogens that can infect humans. All laboratory work is performed by human scientists.

The company stated that the function of the ART system has not yet been determined and that further experiments are underway. A pre-print detailing the findings has been released. Anthropic said it is seeking collaborations with outside scientists to extend this research approach to other areas, including genomics.

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