Anthropic’s Claude finds new enzyme system

Anthropic, a leading artificial intelligence research company, has unveiled a new life sciences research group dedicated to fundamental biology research. The company's AI model, Claude, discovered a novel enzyme system, dubbed array-associated reverse transcriptases (ART), during the group's initial investigations. This breakthrough occurred in spring 2026, as the research team aimed to explore the potential of AI models in accelerating biological discoveries.

The laboratory, located in the Bay Area, operates at biosafety levels BSL-1 and BSL-2, focusing on non-human pathogens. Claude's discovery involved sifting through a vast database of DNA sequences, utilizing 950 agents over 21 hours to process 210 million tokens of data. The primary components of the ART system are a reverse transcriptase enzyme, a partner gene, and an array of evenly spaced DNA repeat sequences, reminiscent of CRISPR arrays used in genome editing.

Feng Zhang, a renowned CRISPR genome editing expert and professor at MIT and the Broad Institute, reviewed the pre-print, describing the find as an exciting example of AI's potential in biological discovery. The researchers are now investigating the system's function, with Anthropic providing tools like Claude Science and Claude Code for researchers to delve deeper into their work.