Anthropic says Claude AI helped uncover novel enzyme system
Anthropic says its Claude model helped discover a novel enzyme system, ART, with CRISPR-like features, marking a first for its biology research push.
Anthropic said on Wednesday that its Claude model contributed to the discovery of a novel enzyme system whose characteristics recall mechanisms found in the gene-editing technology CRISPR. The company described the finding as the first output of its biology research programme.
The development follows the recent establishment of a wet lab by Anthropic in the San Francisco Bay Area, part of a broader push by the AI firm into life sciences and drug-related research that extends beyond computational work.
According to Anthropic, Claude examined extensive DNA databases and identified an unusual system centred on a reverse transcriptase (RT), an enzyme that converts RNA into DNA. The company has named the system array-associated reverse transcriptases, or ART.
Anthropic said ART includes repeating DNA sequences that resemble patterns observed in CRISPR. While the underlying reverse transcriptase had been documented in earlier studies, the company noted that Claude appeared to be the first to recognise key aspects of the wider system, including an array of non-coding DNA sequences and an additional protein whose function remains unknown.