Anthropic says Claude AI helped discover novel enzyme system

Pages from the Anthropic website and the company’s logos are displayed on a computer screen in New York. (File Photo)

Anthropic on Wednesday said its Claude model helped discover a novel enzyme system with properties reminiscent of mechanisms in gene-editing technology CRISPR, marking the first result from the AI startup’s biology research ⁠efforts.

The ​finding comes days after Reuters reported Anthropic had quietly established a wet lab in the ​San Francisco ​Bay Area, as the ⁠company expands its ambitions in life sciences and drug-related research ‌beyond purely computer-based work.

Anthropic said Claude analyzed large DNA databases and found an unusual system built around a reverse transcriptase (RT), an enzyme that ⁠copies ⁠RNA into DNA.

Anthropic has named the system ⁠array-associated ‌reverse transcriptases, or ART.

ART ​contains repeating DNA sequences ‌that resemble patterns seen in CRISPR, Anthropic said.

The ‌company noted ​that while ​the ​underlying RT had been identified in previous studies, Claude ​appeared to be the ⁠first to recognize key features of the broader system, including an array ‌of ⁠non-coding DNA sequences and an additional protein of unknown ​function.