Anthropic’s Claude finds new CRISPR-like system in viruses
Anthropic's Claude AI has identified a previously unknown CRISPR-like enzyme system in viruses, which researchers have named array-associated reverse transcriptase (ART). This discovery was made by AI agents scanning massive DNA databases, potentially opening new avenues for gene editing research.
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Demonstrates the growing utility of large language models in accelerating scientific discovery and biological research.
Anthropic says its Claude AI has found a previously unknown enzyme system inside viruses that infect bacteria, and its layout looks a lot like CRISPR, the natural machinery behind the world's best-known gene editing tool. The company has named it array-associated reverse transcriptase, or ART, and says Claude did most of the work after its scientists gave it a single broad prompt.The finding is the first result from Anthropic's new life sciences research group and wet lab, set up in the Bay Area this spring. What ART does is still unknown. CEO Dario Amodei said as much in a post on X, noting that its precise function, biotech usefulness "(if any)" and significance are not yet clear. "But at minimum it is work I would have been proud to do as a PhD student," he wrote.Claude spotted a CRISPR-like pattern that earlier studies missedART has three parts.
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