More of an art than a science: Using microbial DNA sequences to compose music
- Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
Bacteria are everywhere. Microbial ecology is emerging as a critical field for understanding the relationships between these ubiquitous bacterial communities, the environment, and human health. Next generation DNA sequencing technology provides us a powerful tool to indirectly observe the communities by sequencing and analyzing all of the bacterial DNA present in an environment. The results of the DNA sequencing experiments can generate gigabytes to terabytes of information however, making it difficult for the citizen scientist to grasp and the educator to convey this data. Here, we present a method for interpreting massive amounts of microbial ecology data as musical performances, easily generated on any computer and using only commonly available or freely available software and the ‘Microbial Bebop’ algorithm. Furthermore, using this approach citizen scientists and biology educators can sonify complex data in a fun and interactive format, making it easier to communicate both the importance and the excitement of exploring the planet earth’s largest ecosystem.
- Research Organization:
- Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER)
- Grant/Contract Number:
- AC02-06CH11357
- OSTI ID:
- 1245054
- Journal Information:
- Journal of Microbiology & Biology Education, Vol. 17, Issue 1; ISSN 1935-7877
- Publisher:
- American Society for MicrobiologyCopyright Statement
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
An auditory display tool for DNA sequence analysis
|
journal | April 2017 |
World cloud: A prototype data choralification of text documents
|
journal | March 2019 |
Similar Records
Uncharted Microbial World: Microbes and Their Activities in the Environment
Colloquium and Report on Systems Microbiology: Beyond Microbial Genomics