A friend of mine sent me a link to a Facebook article, thinking that I might be interested because of the work I have been doing with frequencies. The article mentioned a geneticist in California who had been working on discovering the link between the genetic code found in our DNA and musical notes that could form compositions as they followed the genetic sequences of the DNA coding.

The article didn’t mention the name of the geneticist, so I did a little digging and found this article: “Scientist Discovers Genetic Formula for Music” by Delthia Ricks – Scientist Discovers Genetic Formula for Music – Los Angeles Times. The article states, “Susumu Ohno, who holds the title of distinguished scientist at the City of Hope Medical Center in Duarte, claims to have discovered what he calls “the primordial secret,” a link between music and the chemistry of genes.”

In another article written by  Mark Temple, he explains how the marriage of genetic sequences to musical notes is determined.  “DNA acts as a template for the production of proteins in our bodies. A DNA sequence is a long, continuous chain of only four chemical bases labeled G, A, T, or C. They repeat in various defined patterns to make up a gene. Many genes are identical in sequence within a species; that is, from person to person, or from virus to virus.”  https://theconversation.com/what-does-dna-sound-like-using-music-to-unlock-the-secrets-of-genetic-code-78767

Another article gave more detailed information first on the nucleotides contained in the DNA molecules. “The Basics of DNA: A Blueprint for Life – DNA, or deoxyribonucleic acid, is the fundamental blueprint of life for nearly every living organism. It consists of a sequence of four nucleotides: adenine (A), cytosine (C), guanine (G), and thymine (T). These nucleotides pair together (A with T, and C with G) to form the famous double helix structure. The order in which they appear encodes the genetic instructions for creating proteins, which are the building blocks of life.”

This article continued by describing which notes were linked with which nucleotides. “This method is one of the simplest, where each nucleotide (A, C, G, T) is mapped to a specific musical note. For instance:

Adenine (A) might correspond to C (the note).

Cytosine (C) might correspond to D.

Guanine (G) might correspond to E.

Thymine (T) might correspond to F.

Using this system, a DNA sequence like AGTC would translate to a sequence of notes like C-E-D-F. The sequence of notes could then be organized into rhythms, harmonies, and instrumental arrangements, creating a unique piece of music based on the DNA code.”

This concept has been utilized for quite some time.” As advanced as this technology may sound, translating DNA code into listenable frequencies has been around since the 1970s. In the beginning, geneticists would assign musical pitches to different genes to save time when reading and comparing long strands of DNA. Geneticists would also use this process as a way of detecting mutations by analyzing extreme shifts in the rhythmic tone of the gene sequence.”  https://blog.abclonal.com/blog/the-symphony-of-life-turning-genetic-coding-into-music

Daniel Bouzas writes in the above article about how this concept has since been greatly expanded.  “As time passed, more scientists began taking an interest in further developing the technology involved, and one of the first pioneers in helping to push the potential of this technology was American biologist David W. Deamer and composer Susan Alexander. David began taking an interest in this area of DNA music when Susan asked him-

“Is our biology harmonically ordered in any way? If we could hear the body, delve into its rhythms and frequencies, what might it sound like?”

David would go on to use a spectrophotometer to analyze the different nucleotides and determine their light wavelengths. These were then converted into actual music notes expressed in hertz. Nest, they were programmed into a synthesizer so that actual music could be played using the genetic code sequencing.

Susan Alexander has compiled quite a library of DNA music:

MUSIC

As I searched through the internet with the query “DNA music” I found quite a lot of sites that offer examples of the work being done by many scientists/musicians. Here is one example to listen to:

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7UEIDftDXk

Next time you find yourself with a desire to sing or play an instrument, maybe you should pay attention. It might be your DNA inspiring you.