Maps and Journeys- DNA Composition

Due to the delay on my project being passed, I felt it was time to come up with an idea to turn my installation in another direction, should I not be able to carry out with my original plan. I would still have UV lightbulbs, but I would do it with some other UV source to represent the bacteria. However, conceptually I found this to be not as strong, as the whole idea surrounded the idea of physically being able to see the bacteria glowing. So, I thought to represent the bacteria in another way; with sound.

Throughout the early research of this project, I came across an increasing number of projects which turn DNA into sound or musical compositions. Although this sounds quite artistic, the main reason this is coming about is due to wanting scientists with visual impairments to be able to carry out their research with much more ease than they do currently. I found this really interesting, because it is creating a way for people to experience something in a way which is not natural. So I decided to do a little more research about how this is done.

First I found a TED talk which discusses how bacteria 'talk' to each other:

Ironically, the example in the video is the bacteria strain that I want to use for my lightbulbs.

I then tried to find some sort of breakdown of how you go about turning DNA into music, and I found a very useful website which explains it very well: http://www.whozoo.org/mac/Music/Primer/Primer_index.htm

From this site, I could gather that music from DNA is made up of 3 things; amino acids, primary structure and tertiary structure. These things determine the notes/scale, rhythm, and melody. So basically what you have to do is break down the DNA into amino acids, and then order those amino acids into a scale, and then play those amino acids in the order they come in on the DNA strand protein sequence:

GFP is the DNA which allows the bacteria to glow, and the DNA sequence is shown by the long string of letters on the top of each row. Each letter is called a nucleotide and a group of 3 letters corresponds to a codon, which is something which codes an amino acid to be formed as part of the DNA sequence. On the bottom row, where the letters are all spaced out, these letters represent the individual amino acids in the string of DNA. You can find out which amino acids these are by looking at this table:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DNA_codon_table

With these letters you can then go about putting them into a scale. Now you can choose how you order them, but it has to be done logically; by ordering them on how hydrophobic (water insoluble) or hydrophilic (water soluble) they are.

Then you have to create your rhythm, and this done by looking at how the DNA turns. DNA folds and turns in specific ways to enable them to interact with other molecules. Alpha helix turns in circles and Beta strands move together and apart like an accordion. Creating an image like:

The alpha helix is represented in purple, and the beta strands are in yellow.

So, I am going to give this a go and see how I get on, I may seek help from someone in sound design at uni to see if they can give me some insight into the project.