Protein folding depends on the interaction among the amino acids and between the protein and its immediate environment. With a few exceptions, the specific identity of the amino acids seems less important than the preservation of the correct relationship. I believe that music is a way of representing those relationships in a type of informational string to which the human ear is keenly attuned. The rapid expansion of genetic data bases driven in part by the Human Genome Project has made it clear just how much all life forms have in common. Similar genetic themes appear not only from species to species, but from protein to protein.
Every genome is a study in the history of genetic composition.
It may be possible for somebody who has heard the pattern of a calcium-binding site or an enzyme active site to recognize its occurrence in a novel protein. The analytic and educational potential of using music to represent genetic patterns has been recognized from secondary school to university level. The Science Teacher. David Lane , the founder of AudioGenetics , has built a DNA-based music company on the foundation of a project he began as a student at the University of Arizona. This ambitious enterprise recognizes and plans to develop many potential applications of DNA-based music to education, analysis and medicine.