Blood Music
Or: Eine swine Nachtmusik
An artist by the name of Stephan Zielinski has used code to transform parts of the Swine Flue amino acid sequence into ambient music – the “Swine Flu Hemagglutnin”.
The algorithm I used is a bit complicated, but just in case you’re curious: since the gene is expressed as a surface protein antibodies can sense, it’s considered as a string of amino acids. Each beat corresponds to one amino acid, and the piece is in 3/4 time, so each six measures would correspond to five turns around the alpha structure. (I’m weaseling because I haven’t the foggiest idea how the protein actually gets folded.) Amino acids with side chains that are neither aromatic not aliphatic control the piano and organ: the nine non-hydrophobics the piano, and the four hydrophobics the organ. The three amino acids with aliphatic side chains control the low synthesizer, while the four with aromatics control the percussion.
Head to the original posting here to listen to the MP3.
Not sure about the drums, but as data-mapped-to-music goes this is pretty musical.