BibTex format
@article{Penadés:2025:10.1016/j.cell.2025.08.018,
author = {Penadés, JR and Gottweis, J and He, L and Patkowski, JB and Daryin, A and Weng, W-H and Tu, T and Palepu, A and Myaskovsky, A and Pawlosky, A and Natarajan, V and Karthikesalingam, A and Costa, TRD},
doi = {10.1016/j.cell.2025.08.018},
journal = {Cell},
title = {AI mirrors experimental science to uncover a mechanism of gene transfer crucial to bacterial evolution},
url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2025.08.018},
year = {2025}
}
RIS format (EndNote, RefMan)
TY - JOUR
AB - Artificial intelligence (AI) models have been proposed for hypothesis generation, but testing their ability to drive high-impact research is challenging since an AI-generated hypothesis can take decades to validate. Here, we challenge the ability of a recently developed large language model (LLM)-based platform, AI co-scientist, to generate high-level hypotheses by posing a question that took years to resolve experimentally but remained unpublished: how could capsid-forming phage-inducible chromosomal islands (cf-PICIs) spread across bacterial species? Remarkably, the AI co-scientist’s top-ranked hypothesis matched our experimentally confirmed mechanism: cf-PICIs hijack diverse phage tails to expand their host range. We critically assess its five highest-ranked hypotheses, showing that some opened new research avenues in our laboratories. We benchmark its performance against other LLMs and outline best practices for integrating AI into scientific discovery. Our findings suggest that AI can act not just as a tool but as a creative engine, accelerating discovery and reshaping how we generate and test scientific hypotheses.
AU - Penadés,JR
AU - Gottweis,J
AU - He,L
AU - Patkowski,JB
AU - Daryin,A
AU - Weng,W-H
AU - Tu,T
AU - Palepu,A
AU - Myaskovsky,A
AU - Pawlosky,A
AU - Natarajan,V
AU - Karthikesalingam,A
AU - Costa,TRD
DO - 10.1016/j.cell.2025.08.018
PY - 2025///
SN - 0092-8674
TI - AI mirrors experimental science to uncover a mechanism of gene transfer crucial to bacterial evolution
T2 - Cell
UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2025.08.018
UR - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2025.08.018
ER -