The Sound Of Pure Protein
By Faith Smith
Can you imagine driving home after a long day in the laboratory, switching the radio to Classic FM Drivetime, and the DJ announcing "that was Professor Jones with 'Haemoglobin in A minor'"? No? Well you might be able to soon! A team of scientists have combined science and the arts to make sweet music from proteins.
As bizarre as it sounds, Rie Takahashi and Jeffrey H. Miller from the University of California have so far transcribed segments of two human proteins into classical music and are encouraging other scientists to compose their own science-songs.
Each of the twenty standard amino acids (what's an amino acid?) that make up all proteins were assigned a chord in the key of C. Similar amino acids are paired, for example, the amino acids tyrosine and phenylalanine are both assigned a G major chord, but they can be distinguished because the notes in the chord are arranged differently (see a table of which amino acid is which note).
Working out the timing of each note was a different matter though. The duo focused on the use of codons - three-letter sequences representing genetic information that determine a particular amino acid (what's a codon?). Each amino acid is associated with a number of different codons. Takahashi and Miller assigned note length based on how common a particular codon was. The rarer the codon, the shorter the note.
After adding a little rhythm and blues, the team have created a computer programme with the help of collaborator Frank Pettit, which uses their translation rules to convert proteins into music much faster.
It is hoped the gene2music project will help vision-impaired scientists and boost the popularity of genomic biology. And I believe it certainly will. Visit the website, enter your own genetic sequence and you too can convert science into music. I have!
Find out more about the project here, or jump straight to gene2music to make music from your own gene sequences. If you don't happen to have any sequences hanging around at the moment we've provided a couple for your prolonged enjoyment - get them here.
Talking of prolonged enjoyment - tune into our podcast or read more top science:
As bizarre as it sounds, Rie Takahashi and Jeffrey H. Miller from the University of California have so far transcribed segments of two human proteins into classical music and are encouraging other scientists to compose their own science-songs.
Each of the twenty standard amino acids (what's an amino acid?) that make up all proteins were assigned a chord in the key of C. Similar amino acids are paired, for example, the amino acids tyrosine and phenylalanine are both assigned a G major chord, but they can be distinguished because the notes in the chord are arranged differently (see a table of which amino acid is which note).
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Working out the timing of each note was a different matter though. The duo focused on the use of codons - three-letter sequences representing genetic information that determine a particular amino acid (what's a codon?). Each amino acid is associated with a number of different codons. Takahashi and Miller assigned note length based on how common a particular codon was. The rarer the codon, the shorter the note.)){kind=link}
After adding a little rhythm and blues, the team have created a computer programme with the help of collaborator Frank Pettit, which uses their translation rules to convert proteins into music much faster.
It is hoped the gene2music project will help vision-impaired scientists and boost the popularity of genomic biology. And I believe it certainly will. Visit the website, enter your own genetic sequence and you too can convert science into music. I have!
Find out more about the project here, or jump straight to gene2music to make music from your own gene sequences. If you don't happen to have any sequences hanging around at the moment we've provided a couple for your prolonged enjoyment - get them here.
Talking of prolonged enjoyment - tune into our podcast or read more top science:
- Do stuff - Sci-Pop is here
- News - Branded by your music
- News - Turn on, tune in and lose out
Image: Les Powell
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