14/5/2001

Computer software that converts a person's DNA sequence into music is now available free on-line, thanks to the work of computer scientists at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth.

ProteinMusic(PM), a Java program that converts DNA sequences into music, was originally developed in 1996 by Dr Ross King, who was then working for the Imperial Cancer Research Fund, and pop-star Colin Angus of the Shamen, and a song 'S2 Translation', based on PM, appeared on the Shamen album 'Axis-mutatis'.

King and Angus developed a program written in C on an Apple Mac together with a MIDI connection to a synthesizer. Such specialist music software and synthesizers was required to run the programme at the time.

However, advances in technology mean that a completely re-written version of PM developed by Dr King and Andreas Karwath, who both work at the Department of Computer Science at UWA, can now run on any standard Personal Computer that has a sound card.

According to Dr King, the idea behind the program is to illustrate the complexity and beauty of the structure of proteins. 

"Proteins are the chemicals which make up the structure and working units of cells, and are coded by sequences of DNA known as genes.

"Proteins and music are similar in structure: they are both sequential, and they are neither completely repetitive nor completely random. The mapping used by PM between protein and sound is designed to convey information about the physical/chemical nature of the protein sequence.

"PM is an example of an audification program which enables us to use our sense of hearing to analyse and appreciate data. We hope that PM will be used by Schools and Colleges to illustrate the nature of proteins, and that it will be of interest to scientists studying proteins," he added.

Further information about ProteinMusic, along with instructions for downloading can be accessed at http://www.aber.ac.uk/~phiwww/pm/

Source:	University of Wales, Aberystwyth
	Web Link