Anthropic 宣布成立生物学实验室，Claude Mythos 5 自主发现新酶系统
Anthropic 让约 950 个 Claude 智能体跑 21 小时，自己从 DNA 数据库里挖出一个类似 CRISPR 的新酶系统，还做了湿实验验证，很科幻的一条。
Anthropic 在 2026 年春季成立生物研究组，目标是加速生物学发现。首个成果中，Claude Mythos 5 让约 950 个智能体自主运行 21 小时、消耗 2.1 亿 token，在 DNA 序列数据库中发现了一种新型逆转录酶系统 ART，其旁边存在重复 DNA 序列模式，类似 CRISPR 的特征。研究团队随后在 E. coli 中表达 ART 系统并完成初步 RNA 测序验证，但该系统的具体机制与功能仍有大量待解问题。
ANTHROPIC ANNOUNCES BIOLOGY LAB AND NEW DISCOVERY
In Spring of 2026, Anthropic started a research group to accelerate biological discoveries.
Today they announced their first result: Claude Mythos 5 autonomously discovered a novel enzyme system that is associated with an array of DNA repeats, a pattern reminiscent of CRISPR.
The key insight here behind what Anthropic is trying to do:
A lot of biological discoveries come from scientists noticing something unusual and unexpected. LLMs could potentially automate this manual process, scaling up the amount of potential discoveries.
Here, the researchers focused Claude's attention onto reverse transcriptases (RTs). These are enzymes that copy RNA into DNA. RTs are used for many biotechnologies from DNA synthesis to genome engineering. So discovering novel RTs can be very valuable!
Claude was made to search autonomously through a massive database of DNA sequences for interesting new examples of RTs.
After 21 hours spent by roughly 950 agents using 210 million tokens, one agent spotted something unusual: a repeating pattern of DNA sequences that occurs next to the gene for an odd-looking RT. After further analysis it was convinced that it had found a new biological system! The system it found, ART, is found mainly in bacteriophages (viruses that attack bacteria).
The researchers did some preliminary lab experiments where they expressed the ART system in E. coli bacteria and did further RNA sequencing. However, there are still many many open questions of how exactly this ART system works and what its function is.
Link: https://t.co/FWc7uATt2y
