Claude 发现一种具有类 CRISPR 重复序列的新型酶系统

我们正在 Anthropic 组建一个新的生命科学研究团队和实验室。我们的重点是利用 Claude 开展基础生物学研究：探索 DNA 数据集以识别尚未被表征的蛋白质家族、大规模生成假设，并在实验室中通过实验对其进行验证。这篇文章将介绍负责这项工作的团队，并分享早期成果：在科学家仅提供高层次指导的情况下，Claude 发现了一个全新的酶系统，其性质令人联想到 CRISPR。许多彻底改变生物学和医学的发现，都始于科学家在自然界惊人多样的分子机器中注意到某些异常之处。 限制性酶是一类能够在特定短序列处切割 DNA 的蛋白质，最初是在细菌的免疫系统中发现的；在那里，它们会摧毁入侵病毒的 DNA。研究人员意识到，可以利用这些酶在选定位置切割 DNA，并将一个生物体的基因拼接到另一个生物体中，这由此开启了生物技术产业。Taq 聚合酶是一种能够在高温下复制 DNA 的酶，最初是在黄石公园的一处温泉中发现的细菌里被鉴定出来。它后来成为 PCR 的基础——PCR 是现代诊断技术中广泛使用的 DNA 复制方法。CRISPR 最初被注意到时，只是某些细菌 DNA 中的一段异常重复序列，如今却已成为基因编辑类药物的基础。 2026 年春季，我们组建了一个研究团队，旨在探索通用 AI 模型能否将这类发现系统化并加速。我们相信，这种加速将来自一种全新的生物学研究方式：在整个过程中，由智能体与人类协作完成每一步工作。要建立这种新的工作方式，我们需要创建自己的实验室，并组建一支负责所有工作的统一团队，涵盖从训练 Claude 掌握生物学知识，到在实验室开展实验的各个环节。We’re introducing a new life sciences research group and laboratory at Anthropic. Our focus is on fundamental biology research using Claude: exploring datasets of DNA to identify uncharacterized protein families, generating hypotheses at scale, and testing them through experiments in the lab. This post introduces the team behind this work and shares early results in which Claude discovered a novel enzyme system with properties reminiscent of CRISPR, with only high-level direction from our scientists.

Many discoveries that have revolutionized biology and medicine started with a scientist noticing something odd in the staggering diversity of molecular machines found in nature. Restriction enzymes, proteins that cut DNA at specific short sequences, were found in bacterial immune systems, where they destroy the DNA of invading viruses. Researchers realized they could use these enzymes to cut DNA at chosen places and splice genes from one organism into another, which launched the biotechnology industry. Taq polymerase, an enzyme that copies DNA at high temperatures, was identified in a bacterium in a Yellowstone hotspring. It became the basis for PCR, the DNA-copying method used in much of modern diagnostics. CRISPR was first noticed as an unusual repeat sequence in the DNA of certain bacteria, and is now the foundation of gene editing-based medicines.

In the spring of 2026, we formed a research group to see whether general AI models can systematize and accelerate such discoveries. We believe that this acceleration will come from establishing a new way of doing biology research, in which agents collaborate with humans in every step of the process. Developing this new way of working required that we build our own lab and a single team working on everything from training Claude in biology to running experiments in the lab.

今天，我们将分享我们最早期研究项目之一的初步成果。在该项目中，Claude 自主发现了一种新型酶系统，该系统与一系列 DNA 重复序列相关，其模式让人联想到 CRISPR。尽管我们目前还不知道它的功能，但 Claude 发现的这一系统具有一组特征，而这些特征此前仅在少数其他系统中被同时发现；这些系统都具有可编程性，并能执行切割、复制和粘贴 DNA 等操作。除了已经改变科学和医学领域的 CRISPR 之外，目前还有数种此类系统正在开发中，有望成为具有潜力的工具。Today, we’re sharing early results from one of our first research programs, in which Claude autonomously discovered a novel enzyme system that is associated with an array of DNA repeats, a pattern reminiscent of CRISPR. 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. Beyond CRISPR, which has already transformed science and medicine, several other such systems are now in development as promising tools.

Claude 发现的这一系统基于逆转录酶（RT），这类酶能够将 RNA 复制为 DNA。尽管这种底层 RT 存在于一种巨型噬菌体中，且已在先前的研究中被发现，但 Claude 似乎是第一个注意到该系统定义性特征的人——一组相关的非编码 DNA 序列，以及一种功能未知的额外辅助蛋白。The system that Claude found is based on a reverse transcriptase (RT), enzymes that copy RNA into DNA. While this underlying RT, found in a jumbo phage, had been identified in previous studies, Claude appears to be the first to notice the system’s defining features—an associated array of non-coding DNA sequences and an additional accessory protein of unknown function.

审阅预印本后，CRISPR 基因组编辑领域的先驱之一、麻省理工学院和布罗德研究所教授张锋表示：After reviewing the pre-print, Feng Zhang, one of the pioneers of CRISPR genome editing and a professor at MIT and the Broad Institute said:

这是一个令人振奋的例子，展示了 AI 智能体如何为生物学发现作出贡献。鉴定出与逆转录酶相关的 RNA 重复阵列确实非常引人入胜，值得进一步研究。希望这项工作能鼓励更多科学家探索 AI 如何支持他们的研究。

This is an exciting example of how AI agents can contribute to biological discovery. The identification of RNA-repeat arrays associated with reverse transcriptases is genuinely intriguing and merits further investigation. I hope this work encourages more scientists to explore how AI can support their research.

我们给 Claude 提供了一个提示词，让它在一个包含海量 DNA 序列的数据库中搜索有趣的新型 RT。我们的参与仅限于最初的提示词和实验室工作，而 Claude 智能体则梳理数据库、研究不同的 RT 家族，并自行判断哪些候选对象值得关注。大约 950 个智能体使用 2.1 亿个 token 花费 21 小时搜索这些数据后，其中一个智能体发现了非同寻常的东西：一种重复出现的 DNA 序列模式，它位于一个外观异常的 RT 基因旁边。经过进一步分析和实验室测试，我们认识到，这种模式标志着一种此前尚未被表征的酶系统。这种酶系统存在于噬菌体（感染细菌的病毒）中，我们称之为阵列相关逆转录酶（ART）。We gave Claude a prompt to search through a massive database of DNA sequences for interesting new examples of RTs. Our involvement was limited to the initial prompt and the lab work, while Claude agents combed through the database, investigated the distinct RT families, and used their own judgement to identify interesting candidates. 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. 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).

我们对 ART 主要功能的理解工作仍在持续。不过，我们认为尽早分享这些发现非常重要，这既能展示 Claude 的能力，也能让更广泛的社区了解我们正在开展的工作。我们已发布一篇预印本（见此处），其中对相关内容进行了更详细的讨论。Our work to understand the primary function of ARTs is ongoing. However, we think it is important to share such findings early, both to demonstrate Claude’s capabilities and to give the broader community insight into what we’re working on. We have released a pre-print (here) that discusses this in more detail.

关于我们的实验室About our lab

我们是一支由科学家组成的团队，整个职业生涯都在探索不寻常的蛋白质，并专门运用计算方法系统地解读 DNA、阐释其演化过程，以及筛选出有待进一步表征的生物系统。在加入 Anthropic 之前，我们的研究帮助人们更深入地了解 CRISPR 系统的演化与调控，发现用于下一代细胞与基因疗法的新型酶，并构建工具来加速识别 DNA 中的异常，例如人类致病性变异。我们隶属于 Anthropic 的生命科学部门，与从事药物发现以及训练 Claude 进行生物学和化学研究等工作的团队并肩合作。We are a team of scientists who have spent our careers exploring unusual proteins, and specialize in using computational approaches to systematically read DNA, interpret its evolution, and pick out biological systems for further characterization. Our research prior to joining Anthropic has helped to better understand the evolution and regulation of CRISPR systems, discover new enzymes for next-generation cell and gene therapies, and build tools for accelerating the identification of anomalies in DNA, such as human pathogenic variants. We are part of Anthropic’s life sciences organization, alongside teams whose work includes drug discovery, and training Claude in biology and chemistry.

我们的实验室位于湾区，看起来像一间典型的分子生物学实验室。我们开展的研究仅涉及较低级别的生物安全风险等级（BSL-1 和 BSL-2），不处理能够感染人类的病原体。所有实验室工作均由人类科学家完成。尽管我们曾通过 Model Hardware Standard 等倡议尝试利用 AI 加速实验室工作，但这种方法不太适合我们分子生物学研究中涉及的那种临时性工作流程。Our lab, located in the Bay Area, looks like a typical molecular biology lab. We do research that involves only the lower-levels of the biosafety risk level (BSL-1 and BSL-2) and we do not handle pathogens that can infect humans. All of the lab work is performed by human scientists. Although we’ve experimented with using AI to accelerate lab work with initiatives like the Model Hardware Standard, this approach is less conducive to the sort of ad hoc workflows that are involved in our molecular biology research.

我们的工作方式How we work

我们的许多工作流程都涉及让 Claude 在与功能未知蛋白相关的海量 DNA 序列中进行搜索。一种典型模式是从调查某个给定的蛋白质家族开始。Claude 阅读相关文献，并利用公开数据复现已有研究结果，以检验其方法。随后，它会搜索那些不符合任何已描述系统的家族成员或基因组邻近序列，并为每个候选对象撰写一份简短、便于人类阅读的报告，提出其可能的功能，并描述支持这些判断的证据。在后续分析中，Claude 会批判性地评估这些证据——通常大多数候选对象会在这一阶段被排除。一项调查可能最终确定一个值得测试的候选对象，也可能一个都没有。Many of our workflows involve having Claude search through the vast collection of DNA sequences associated with proteins without a known function. One typical pattern begins with a survey of a given protein family. Claude reads the relevant literature and reproduces the established results from public data to check its methods. It then searches for family members or genomic neighbors that fit no described system, and writes a short, human-readable report for each candidate that proposes a function and describes the evidence supporting its claims. In follow-up analyses, Claude critically evaluates the evidence—typically most candidates are eliminated at this stage. A survey may end with a single candidate worth testing, or with none.

当某个候选方案通过我们的审核后，我们会在实验室中对其进行测试：在标准实验室菌株中表达该蛋白质，并从生化和结构层面对其进行表征，同时借助 Claude 解读数据。我们使用 Claude Science 和 Claude Code 开展工作，这些工具对任何科学家都可用；有时也会使用我们自行开发的工具框架，协调许多并行运行的 Claude 会话。When a candidate survives our review, we test it in the laboratory, expressing the protein in standard laboratory strains and characterizing it biochemically and structurally, with Claude helping to interpret the data. We do our work in Claude Science and Claude Code, the same tools available to any scientist, and sometimes with a harness of our own that coordinates many Claude sessions running in parallel.

由于 Claude 能够极其高产地提出假设，这些假设本身也成了我们的研究对象。单次实验活动就能产生数百到数千份候选报告，因此我们一直在探究：那些我们认为值得测试的提案，与被我们搁置的提案之间究竟有何区别。我们获得的认识会被反馈到我们给 Claude 的指令中，教会它模仿我们自己的科学判断力。Because Claude produces hypotheses so prolifically, the hypotheses themselves have become an object of study for us. With hundreds to thousands of candidate reports from a single campaign, we have been asking what distinguishes the proposals we judge worth testing from those we set aside. What we learn goes back into the instructions we give Claude and teaches it to mimic our own scientific taste.

Claude 发现了 ARTClaude finds ART

在过去几年中，研究人员发现了更多种类的逆转录酶（RT），其中大多数存在于细菌中，并作为免疫系统的一部分发挥作用。几乎所有逆转录酶家族都是通过基因组分析（或基因组挖掘）发现的；这需要研究人员在序列数据库中搜索尚未被任何人表征的基因，注意到其中不寻常的基因，并弄清楚它们的功能。In the past few years, researchers have discovered many more reverse transcriptases (RTs), most of them in bacteria, where they act as part of the immune system. Nearly all RT families were found by genomic analysis, or genome mining, which requires researchers to search sequence databases for genes that no one has characterized, notice the unusual ones, and work out what they do.

Claude 代理收集了超过 20 万次 RT，筛选出 3,500 个新的候选系统，并将其进一步缩小到 20 个最具吸引力的候选系统，随后对这些候选系统进行分析，生成了人类可读的报告。对于一位科学领域的专家而言，这类分析可能需要数周到数月的工作。Claude agents gathered over 200,000 RTs, picked out 3,500 new candidate systems, and narrowed those to the 20 most-compelling candidates that they analyzed to produce human-readable reports. For an expert scientist, this type of analysis can take weeks to months of work.

在研究过程中，Claude 注意到一个不寻常的 RT 家族，并决定对其进行更详细的研究。在仔细分析 RT 附近的原始 DNA 序列时，该代理惊叹道：“[RT 旁边的 DNA] 太惊人了：我一眼就能看出这是一个串联重复序列阵列……这是一个类似 CRISPR 的……重复序列阵列？！”During the course of its research, Claude noticed an unusual RT family and decided to examine it in greater detail. While combing through the raw DNA sequence near the RT, the agent exclaimed: “[The DNA next to the RT] is spectacular: I can see by eye a tandem repeat array … that's a CRISPR-like … repeat array?!”

随后，它的处理方式与人类科学家面对潜在发现时非常相似。它统计了重复序列的数量并测量了它们之间的间距，将这一布局与已知的 RT 系统进行比较，并查阅文献以寻找此前是否有关于该模式的报告。经过彻底分析后，它确信自己发现了一种新的生物系统，并提交了一份报告供人类审查。
It then proceeded much as a human scientist would when faced with a potential discovery. It counted the repeats and measured their spacing, compared the layout with the known RT systems, and searched the literature for any previous report of the pattern. After a thorough analysis it was convinced that it had found a new biological system, and filed a report for human review.

它发现的系统名为 ART，主要存在于噬菌体中，由三个部分组成：RT、其旁侧的一个伴侣基因，以及一长串间距均匀的 DNA 重复序列。这种重复序列的排列方式类似于 CRISPR 阵列；CRISPR 阵列储存着一组不同的 RNA 序列，使 CRISPR-Cas 系统成为可编程的生物技术工具。我们的初步实验表明，ART 阵列也会表达为一组彼此不同的短 RNA，这暗示该系统中可能也存在类似的机制。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. The repeat layout resembles a CRISPR array, which holds a bank of different RNA sequences that make CRISPR-Cas systems programmable biotechnological tools. Our first experiments show that the ART array is also expressed as a set of distinct short RNAs, suggesting that something analogous may be at play for this system.

进一步的实验正在进行中，以确定 ART 的工作原理；我们分享这些早期发现，是为了向社区展示 Claude 能够自主检测异常并推动分析，从而开启生物学发现。Further experiments are underway to determine how ART works, and we are sharing these early findings to show the community that Claude can autonomously detect anomalies and drive analyses to initiate biological discoveries.

您可以在我们的技术报告（此处）中找到更多详细信息。You can find more detail in our technical report (here).

与我们合作Work with us

我们希望这项工作能够向更广泛的科学界展示人工智能驱动的假设生成的价值，并希望与其他科学家合作，将这一方法扩展到基因组学及其他领域中的广泛问题。如果您有研究问题方面的提议，我们很乐意听取。We hope this work demonstrates the value of AI-driven hypothesis generation to the wider scientific community, and we would like to work with other scientists to extend this approach to a broad range of problems, in genomics and in other fields. If you have a proposal for a research question, we would like to hear from you.