Do proteins make music? Surprisingly yes! The entire living world is composed of a multitude of proteins. Thanks to recent work in quantum physics, Joël Sternheimer has been able to highlight the gentle melody of these molecules essential to life: proteody. "Protéodie", contraction between protein and melody. Find out in the following lines how proteody works and what its fields of application are. Will it become the medicine of tomorrow?

What are proteins? Getting back to basics

The proteins are molecules essential to the construction and function of all living things. They ensure thousands of different functions such as the transport of oxygen in the blood thanks to hemoglobin, the elasticity of the skin with collagen etc... 

Smaller molecules called amino acids make up a protein. 

"A combination of 20 different amino acids is sufficient to make the billions of proteins found in nature.The structure and function of a protein will be determined by the order in which the amino acids follow each other. The sequence of a protein is represented by a sequence of letters, each corresponding to a specific amino acid.

Insulin sequence: FVNQHLCGSHLVEALYLV.... " (source:  http://education.expasy.org/bioinformatique/Atelier4.html )

Protein makes music: a matter of vibration.

Work by quantum physics researcher and pioneer in the field, Joel Sternheimer, has shown that each amino acid has a particular frequency that can be transcribed by a musical note. For example, we know that "A" resonates at 440 Hertz. A amino acid with the same frequency will sound like an "A".

The complete sequence of a protein thus forms a melody specific to said protein.

Proteody at the service of plants.

Joel Sternheimer discovered that by making an organism listen to a specific melody, it can accelerate its synthesis or on the contrary block it.

So plants have a frequency that, tuned to the good notes or the good tone, will stimulate their growth. When they feel the vibration of appropriate air, they produce more protein. On the other hand, there are frequencies, notes or melodies that short-circuit this process. 

Thus, this principle allows helping the "good" plants to grow and the undesirable ones to stop their growth. A patent was filed allowing this avant-garde technique to develop. It is already present in the vineyards of Alsace and Champagne to fight one of the main diseases that affect these said vineyards.

This process was exported to Senegal, which was able to grow tomatoes despite the drought.

For the record, the Italian Stefano Mancuso, plant neurobiologist, has demonstrated that the music of Mozart, Bach or Tchaikowsky benefited plants and particularly the vine. These melodies would improve the quality of the wine...

Orchestrated protein music.

The music that emerges is rather haunting, repetitive and akin to Asian tunes. To discover examples, you can visit the site: http://education.expasy.org/bioinformatique/Atelier4.html  which offers you to listen to the work of Jacques Beaud, musician, who translated the data of Dr. Clark from Wesleyan University (Texas) into music scores. The latter has developed a computer method for setting music to protein s sequences. The instruments were then chosen based on the characteristics and structure of the protein. Then, the musicians and the soprano, led by the Geneva-based conductor Arsène Liechti, performed these partitions that are amazing, to say the least!

Proteody applied in medicine?

The proteody has proven to stimulate the plant's natural defenses. This work is extremely encouraging and opens the way to multiple applications, particularly in medicine.

Successful trials have shown the benefits of this little music on the nervous system.

Joel Sternheimer, for his part, claims that this process could fight certain diseases by initiating a musical dialogue particularly with viruses that are encapsulated in a protein membrane.

To conclude

Plants, animals (dairy cows that produce 1.5 more liters of milk per day thanks to Mozart) and humans are orchestras unto themselves. One wrong note, one out of tune instrument and it is the disease. The protest retunes the individual desks so that the whole can resonate in unison...