This is the sound of the coronavirus, according to scientists. It’s not as spiky as you might think
- Project has serious purpose because the musical map of its protein structure may help identify areas that can be targeted by drugs and antibodies
- Research team assigned each amino acid a different note, but admits it chose to play it on a Japanese stringed instrument to give a soothing effect
American scientists have turned the structure of the coronavirus that causes Covid-19 into music.
The spikes that allow the virus to bind to human host cell receptors are made up of combinations of amino acids, and scientists from the department of civil and environmental engineering of Massachusetts Institute of Technology used an artificial intelligence technology named sonification to assign each amino acid a unique note and converted the entire protein into a score.
These amino acids tend to curl up into a helix or stretch out into a sheet. Researchers captured these features by altering the duration and volume of the notes.
The 110-minute-long piece, which includes chiming bells, strings and lilting flutes, represents different aspects of the protein, according to a report published in Science magazine last week.
The MIT scientists said they chose a koto, a traditional Japanese stringed instrument, to play the music thanks to its soothing sound.
The project also has a serious purpose because scientists hope it will help to identify parts of the protein that could be targeted by antibodies or drugs by searching for specific musical sequences that correspond to these areas.
This is a faster and more intuitive method than conventional methods used to study proteins, such as molecular modelling, said the researchers.