[R] Generative design of novel bacteriophages with genome language models [R]

Background

Genome language models have emerged as a promising strategy for designing biological systems, but their ability to generate functional sequences at the scale of whole genomes has remained untested.

Findings

Here, we report the first generative design of viable bacteriophage genomes. We leveraged frontier genome language models, Evo 1 and Evo 2, to generate whole-genome sequences with realistic genetic architectures and desirable host tropism, using the lytic phage ΦX174 as our design template. Experimental testing of AI-generated genomes yielded 16 viable phages with substantial evolutionary novelty.