Claude discovers unknown enzyme system with CRISPR-like repeats in phage DNA
TorturedPoet30 · reddit · 2026-09-24
Per Anthropic's announcement on X, Claude has discovered a previously unknown enzyme system hidden in bacteriophage DNA: next to the enzyme's gene sits a long array of repeating DNA, a structure resembling CRISPR.
- Its function is not yet understood, but only a handful of known systems share its features, and all of them can cut, copy, and paste DNA
- Historically, discovering such programmable systems has revolutionized medicine—CRISPR is now the foundation of genetic medicines—but far more work is needed to learn what this system does and whether it can be put to similar use
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