UCLA molecular biologists have turned protein sequences into original compositions of classical music. "We converted the sequence of proteins into music and can get an auditory signal for every protein," said Jeffrey H. Miller, distinguished professor of microbiology, immunology and molecular genetics, and a member of UCLA's Molecular Biology Institute. "Every protein will have its unique auditory signature because every protein has a unique sequence. You can hear the sequence of the protein." "We assigned a chord to each amino acid," said Rie Takahashi, a UCLA research assistant and an award-winning, classically trained piano player. "We want to see if we can hear patterns within the music, as opposed to looking at the letters of an amino acid or protein sequence. We can listen to a protein, as opposed to just looking at it." The building blocks of proteins are linear sequences of 20 different amino acids. Assigning one note for each amino acid therefore results in a 20-note scale. "A 20-note scale is too large a range," Takahashi said. "You need a reduced scale, so we paired similar amino acids together and used chords and chord variations for each amino acid. We used each component of the music to indicate a specific characteristic of the protein. We are faithful in the conversion from the sequence to the music. The rhythm is dictated by the protein sequence."

On the biologists' site (www.mimg.ucla.edu/faculty/miller_jh/gene2music/examples.html), you can listen to the compositions and even submit your own genetic sequence and have it translated to music. The browser allows anyone to send in a sequence coding for a protein, which will then be converted into music and returned as a MIDI audio file. The research is published in Genome Biology, a major journal in the field of genomics. "I was thinking of doing a project like this for years," Miller said, "but realized I needed a person who has the unique characteristics of being both a molecular geneticist and a serious classical musician. When I met Rie, I realized this is the person I've been looking for."

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Amazing. Another perfectly legitimate waste of government funds. Why are they fiddling around turning protein strands into music when they should be working on a cure for some life-threatening disease? Are they planning on releasing musical beefburgers? How does this 'breakthrough' aid humanity as a whole?

Waste?! Do you know how much fun it must be to be a scientist now? Listening to those amino acids hit that sweet, sweet A minor? HM!?

I think this is awesome..haha. And you ask how does this aid humanity as a whole? Scientists who are more ear than eye can now read the protein sequences without actually having to read them. Plus it's much easier for most people to hear a musical pattern rather than seeing a visual one out of letters..

Breakthrough in genetic research, I tells ya'!

Eureka! Now scientists can continue their research blind-folded!