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From:
martin weiss <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Informal Science Education Network <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Wed, 9 May 2007 11:25:21 -0400
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ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology Centers
Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related institutions.
*****************************************************************************

	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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