Anthropic’s Claude has identified a previously uncharacterized enzyme system in bacteriophages after searching more than 200,000 reverse transcriptases, showing how AI agents could help scientists uncover biological systems hidden in massive DNA datasets.
The newly identified system, called array-associated reverse transcriptase (ART), combines a reverse transcriptase with a neighboring partner gene and a long array of evenly spaced DNA repeats. The arrangement has similarities to CRISPR systems, although researchers do not yet know what ART does.
Claude found the system while analyzing DNA sequences as part of Anthropic’s new life sciences research program. Roughly 950 agents spent 21 hours searching genomic data using about 210 million tokens, producing thousands of potential biological systems for further analysis.
The agents collected more than 200,000 reverse transcriptases, identified about 3,500 candidate systems and eventually narrowed the field to 20 candidates for detailed reports. Anthropic said this type of genome-mining work could take an expert scientist weeks or months.
One Claude agent focused on an unusual reverse transcriptase family and began examining the raw DNA surrounding it. It detected a tandem repeat array next to the RT gene, a pattern that had apparently not been recognized previously.
Today we announced the Claude-led discovery of a molecular machine that we suspect could represent a new gene editing mechanism. Its precise function, biotechnological utility (if any), or level of significance is not yet clear, but at minimum it is work I would have been proud… https://t.co/hyzhzirNJe
The agent then counted the repeats, measured their spacing, compared the arrangement with known reverse transcriptase systems, and searched scientific literature for earlier descriptions.
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