Anthropic's Claude Discovers Unknown CRISPR-Like Enzyme System in Bacteriophage DNA
minchoi · x · 2026-09-24
Anthropic announced Claude uncovered a previously unknown enzyme system hidden in bacteriophage DNA, featuring a CRISPR-like array of repeats next to the enzyme gene. Reported via 950 agents, 21 hours, and 210M tokens. Its function is unknown, but the few known systems sharing its features can cut, copy, and paste DNA — the class of discovery that gave rise to genetic medicine.
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