Anthropic's AI model Claude discovered an unknown enzyme system in DNA databases, performing most of the analysis autonomously. Humans set the research question and conducted lab experiments. The system resembles the gene-editing tool CRISPR and is described by Anthropic as one of the first discoveries from its Bay Area biology lab, which opened in spring 2026.
About 950 AI agents spent 21 hours analyzing more than 200,000 reverse transcriptases, enzymes that convert RNA into DNA. Next to one unusual enzyme, they found repeating DNA sequences. The system, dubbed 'ART,' appears mostly in bacteriophages, viruses that infect bacteria. Its function remains unknown.
"The method has been around for decades and similar systems have been known since 2,008," wrote Lucas Harrington, a PhD graduate under Nobel laureate Jennifer Doudna. Harrington, who co-founded Mammoth Biosciences with Doudna, said the hard part is figuring out what a system actually does, and Anthropic hasn't shown that.
The announcement follows Anthropic's opening of its Bay Area biology lab in spring 2026. The company framed the discovery as a significant step in its efforts to apply AI to biological research.
Anthropic did not say whether the system has a known function, and the open question is what the system actually does. The source says the next step is to determine the enzyme's function.
Source: thedecoder
