ResearchPublished All news from that day
Anthropic says Claude found a new bacteriophage enzyme system
An agent search through a DNA sequence database surfaced a previously uncharacterised system, which Anthropic calls ART.
Check our sources · 6 facts from 1 sourceAnthropic says it gave Claude a prompt to search a massive database of DNA sequences for interesting new examples of reverse transcriptases.
After 21 hours spent searching by roughly 950 agents using 210 million tokens, one agent spotted an unusual pattern; Anthropic says that after further analysis and testing in its lab, it recognized the pattern as a previously uncharacterized enzyme system it calls array-associated reverse transcriptases (ART), consisting of a reverse transcriptase gene, a partner gene and a repeat array, found mainly in bacteriophages.
Anthropic says it does not yet know the system's function, and has released a pre-print with more detail.
Your reaction
We count reactions per story and day, never who reacted. The counts help us choose what goes in the monthly issue. If you are signed in, your own page shows yours too.
We count reactions per story and day, never who reacted. They help choose what goes in the monthly issue.
Check our sources
Every sentence above is checked against this source.
1 Claude discovers a novel enzyme system with CRISPR-like repeats
Open the source archived copy-
Roughly 950 agents spent 21 hours searching the data using 210 million tokens before one agent spotted the anomalous pattern.
citeAfter 21 hours spent searching this data by roughly 950 agents using 210 million tokens, one of the agents spotted something remarkable: a repeating pattern of DNA sequences that occurs next to the gene for an odd-looking RT.
-
The new enzyme system, ART, is found mainly in bacteriophages and consists of three parts: the RT, a partner gene beside it, and a long array of evenly spaced DNA repeat sequences.
citeThe system it found, ART, is found mainly in bacteriophages and consists of three parts: the RT, a partner gene beside it, and a long array of evenly spaced DNA repeat sequences.
-
After further analysis and testing in Anthropic's lab, the pattern was recognized as a previously uncharacterized enzyme system that Anthropic calls array-associated reverse transcriptases (ART).
citeAfter further analysis and testing in our lab, we recognized that this pattern marked a previously uncharacterized enzyme system found in bacteriophages (the viruses that infect bacteria) that we call array-associated reverse transcriptases (ART).
-
We gave Claude a prompt to search through a massive database of DNA sequences for interesting new examples of RTs.
citeWe gave Claude a prompt to search through a massive database of DNA sequences for interesting new examples of RTs.
-
Although Anthropic does not yet know its function, the system that Claude discovered has a set of characteristics that have only ever been found together in a handful of other systems.
citeAlthough we don’t yet know its function, the system that Claude discovered has a set of characteristics that have only ever been found together in a handful of other systems, all of which are programmable and perform operations like cutting, copying, and pasting DNA.
-
Anthropic says it has released a pre-print that discusses the discovery in more detail.
citeWe have released a pre-print (here) that discusses this in more detail.
Every sentence above is checked against this source. Each fact has its own address you can cite.
Source 1 · Anthropic · 23 Sep 2026
Claude discovers a novel enzyme system with CRISPR-like repeats
Roughly 950 agents spent 21 hours searching the data using 210 million tokens before one agent spotted the anomalous pattern.
After 21 hours spent searching this data by roughly 950 agents using 210 million tokens, one of the agents spotted something remarkable: a repeating pattern of DNA sequences that occurs next to the gene for an odd-looking RT.
The new enzyme system, ART, is found mainly in bacteriophages and consists of three parts: the RT, a partner gene beside it, and a long array of evenly spaced DNA repeat sequences.
The system it found, ART, is found mainly in bacteriophages and consists of three parts: the RT, a partner gene beside it, and a long array of evenly spaced DNA repeat sequences.
After further analysis and testing in Anthropic's lab, the pattern was recognized as a previously uncharacterized enzyme system that Anthropic calls array-associated reverse transcriptases (ART).
After further analysis and testing in our lab, we recognized that this pattern marked a previously uncharacterized enzyme system found in bacteriophages (the viruses that infect bacteria) that we call array-associated reverse transcriptases (ART).
Show all 6 factsShow fewer facts
We gave Claude a prompt to search through a massive database of DNA sequences for interesting new examples of RTs.
We gave Claude a prompt to search through a massive database of DNA sequences for interesting new examples of RTs.
Although Anthropic does not yet know its function, the system that Claude discovered has a set of characteristics that have only ever been found together in a handful of other systems.
Although we don’t yet know its function, the system that Claude discovered has a set of characteristics that have only ever been found together in a handful of other systems, all of which are programmable and perform operations like cutting, copying, and pasting DNA.
Anthropic says it has released a pre-print that discusses the discovery in more detail.
We have released a pre-print (here) that discusses this in more detail.
Topics
The morning email
On the mornings we publish: the three top stories and up to four short ones. Free.
We email you a link to confirm. An issue may include one sponsor, always labelled Sponsored · Advertisement. Our emails count opens and clicks, not who made them. Unsubscribe in one click. What we keep