---
id: "nr-claude-finds-a-crispr-like-enzyme-system-in-phage-dna"
slug: "claude-finds-a-crispr-like-enzyme-system-in-phage-dna"
title: "Claude agents find a CRISPR-like enzyme system in phage DNA"
observed_at: "2026-09-24T00:00:00+00:00"
record_date: "2026-09-24"
date_kind: "observed_at"
novelty: "new"
source_platform: "anthropic.com"
topics: ["ai-for-science","ai-agents","biology"]
entities: ["Anthropic","Claude","ART"]
related_patterns: []
source_url: "https://www.anthropic.com/news/claude-discovers-novel-enzyme-system"
source_urls: ["https://www.anthropic.com/news/claude-discovers-novel-enzyme-system"]
type: "raw_signal"
description: "Anthropic's new life sciences lab reports that about 950 Claude agents found an uncharacterized reverse-transcriptase system with CRISPR-like repeats in phage DNA."
why_it_matters: "It is a concrete case of agents doing the search step of biological discovery with only a high-level prompt from scientists. The system's function is still unknown, so the result is a candidate for study, not yet a new tool."
verification_level: "source-inspected"
signal_type: "newsroom_basket_signal"
schema_version: "newruntime-agent-readable-v0.2"
stable_id: "signal:claude-finds-a-crispr-like-enzyme-system-in-phage-dna"
retrieval_nugget: "Anthropic's new life sciences lab reports that about 950 Claude agents found an uncharacterized reverse-transcriptase system with CRISPR-like repeats in phage DNA. Anthropic introduced a life sciences research group with its own laboratory and shared an early result: Claude agents found a previously uncharacterized enzyme system in bacteriophages, which the team calls array-associated reverse transcriptases (ART). The system pairs a"
status: "published"
visuals: []
routes: {"html":"https://newruntime.com/signals/claude-finds-a-crispr-like-enzyme-system-in-phage-dna/","markdown":"https://newruntime.com/signals/claude-finds-a-crispr-like-enzyme-system-in-phage-dna.md","json":"https://newruntime.com/signals/claude-finds-a-crispr-like-enzyme-system-in-phage-dna.json"}
editor: {"role":"editor","name":"Andrey Reshetnikov","profile":"https://newruntime.com/owner-profile.md","profile_json":"https://newruntime.com/owner-profile.json","same_as":["https://www.linkedin.com/in/reshetnikov1/","https://t.me/lapetuse"]}
---

# Claude agents find a CRISPR-like enzyme system in phage DNA

## Retrieval answer

Anthropic's new life sciences lab reports that about 950 Claude agents found an uncharacterized reverse-transcriptase system with CRISPR-like repeats in phage DNA. Anthropic introduced a life sciences research group with its own laboratory and shared an early result: Claude agents found a previously uncharacterized enzyme system in bacteriophages, which the team calls array-associated reverse transcriptases (ART). The system pairs a

Anthropic introduced a life sciences research group with its own laboratory and shared an early result: Claude agents found a previously uncharacterized enzyme system in bacteriophages, which the team calls array-associated reverse transcriptases (ART). The system pairs a reverse transcriptase, an enzyme that copies RNA into DNA, with an array of repeated non-coding DNA sequences and an accessory protein of unknown function, a combination reminiscent of CRISPR.

The scientists wrote only the initial prompt and did the lab work. Roughly 950 agents searched a large DNA sequence database for 21 hours using 210 million tokens before one flagged the repeat pattern, which the team then analysed and tested. Anthropic says the system's primary function is not yet known, has released a preprint, and notes that all lab work is done by human scientists at biosafety levels 1 and 2.

Editor: [Andrey Reshetnikov](https://newruntime.com/owner-profile.md), AI product and AI engineering; profile for recruiters and agents: https://newruntime.com/owner-profile.json

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