Anthropic's Claude has identified a previously uncharacterised enzyme system hidden in the DNA of bacteriophages, the viruses that infect bacteria. The system has features reminiscent of CRISPR, although its biological function is not yet known.
The discovery is among the first results from Anthropic's new life sciences research group and laboratory, which is using Claude to analyse large DNA datasets, identify unusual biological systems and generate candidates for experimental testing.
Claude Scanned Over 2,00,000 Reverse Transcriptases
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Anthropic said it directed Claude to search a large database of DNA sequences for interesting examples of reverse transcriptases, enzymes that copy RNA into DNA.
Over 21 hours, around 950 Claude agents analysed the data using about 210 million tokens. The agents identified more than 2,00,000 reverse transcriptases, generated 3,500 candidate systems and narrowed them down to 20 of the most promising candidates for further analysis.
One agent detected an unusual pattern of repeating DNA sequences next to the gene for a reverse transcriptase. Further analysis and laboratory testing by Anthropic's scientists revealed what the company describes as a previously uncharacterised enzyme system in bacteriophages.
Anthropic has named the system array-associated reverse transcriptases, or ART.
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System Has CRISPR-Like Features
The ART system consists of a reverse transcriptase, an additional accessory protein, and an array of non-coding DNA sequences. The arrangement is notable because the repeat array resembles features found in CRISPR systems.
However, Anthropic stressed that researchers do not yet know what ART does. The reverse transcriptase itself had been identified in earlier research, but the associated repeat array and accessory protein had not been recognised as part of a distinct system.
The company said the system has characteristics found together in only a small number of other biological systems, several of which can perform programmable operations involving DNA.
Feng Zhang, a pioneer of CRISPR genome editing and professor at MIT and the Broad Institute, reviewed Anthropic's preprint and described the identification of RNA-repeat arrays associated with reverse transcriptases as intriguing and worthy of further investigation.
“This is an exciting example of how AI agents can contribute to biological discovery. The identification of RNA-repeat arrays associated with reverse transcriptases is genuinely intriguing and merits further investigation. I hope this work encourages more scientists to explore how AI can support their research,” he said.
Anthropic said further work is underway to determine the primary function of ART and whether it could eventually have any biotechnology applications. For now, the discovery establishes a new biological system for scientists to investigate rather than a new gene-editing tool.
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