by Steve Rees, Ret. RN, Harpist
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."
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."