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Martin,
FYI: You should be aware that we made an exhibit called musical
mutants that was on the floor for about 10 years. It basically
provided comparative DNA gene sequences, converted to amino acid
sequences and musical notes, so that visitors could do comparisons
between various sequences. We used Thymidylate Synthase as one of
the sequences, and F1-ATPase (?), hemoglobin, and one other. It was
a noisy, popular, engaging exhibit, and understanding varied with
prior knowledge and experience.
C
On May 9, 2007, at 8:25 AM, martin weiss wrote:
> ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology
> Centers
> Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related
> institutions.
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>
> This article (http://www.nature.com/news/2007/070430/full/
> 070430-7.html) and the gene2music site (http://www.mimg.ucla.edu/
> faculty/miller_jh/gene2music/examples.html) seem to expand on the
> science song discussion we had earlier. Unfortunately the interface
> to create music from gene sequence is not easy or intuitive
> However, they do provide examples of music created from protein
> sequence data (http://www.mimg.ucla.edu/faculty/miller_jh/
> gene2music/examples.html)
>
> From the Summary of the project:
>
> The primary goal of this work is to convert genome-encoded protein
> sequences into musical notes in order to hear auditory protein
> patterns. Although there have been previous efforts to do this, one
> of the main problems has involved the large jumps between
> consecutive notes in a 20 note range (2.5 octaves) that results
> from a one-to-one amino acid-to-musical note assignment. Some other
> concerns include assigning rhythm, dynamics, and accompaniment
> according to the characteristics of the protein sequence.
> We derived a reduced 13 base note range according to hydrophobicity
> and pairing of similar amino acids. The amino acid pairs were
> differentiated using variants of three-note chords, namely the root
> position and first inversion chords. A rhythm has been encoded into
> the musical sequence according to the organism's codon distribution
> used in the genome-encoded protein sequence. Such a designation
> allows each amino acid to be represented by different note
> durations. The result is a set of rules that produces musical
> compositions that can be applied to any protein sequence [1]. As an
> example, we have used a prototype human protein, Thymidylate
> Synthase A (ThyA). A detailed description of our coding assignment
> can be found in the Project Evolution.
>
> In addition to the primary goal, we also aim to use this conversion
> to help make protein sequences more approachable and tangible for
> the general public and children. The project also opens
> opportunities for visually impaired scientists to access protein
> sequences more readily. We show and allow one to listen to examples
> of several proteins translated into music by these methods and also
> provide the opportunity for others to convert their own gene of
> interest using our GENE2MUSIC program.
>
> Martin
> --
> Martin Weiss, Ph.D
> Vice President, Science
> New York Hall of Science
> 47-01 111 th Street
> Corona, New York 11368
> 718 699 0005 x 356
>
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Charles Carlson
Director of Life Sciences
exploratorium
3601 Lyon St.
San Francisco, CA 94123
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Tel: 415-561-0319
Fax: 415-561-0370
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