Remember those song birds we used to hear in the fields? The sounds of animals in nature singing a symphony of soft and subtle sounds as all things flow together to create a living and vibrant concerto? Science is now showing that these sounds actually do influence the growth of plants. Researchers have demonstrated that plants respond to sounds in pro-found ways which not only influence their overall health but also increase the speed of growth and the size of the plant.
Many people remember hearing in the late 1960's and 1970's about the idea that plants respond to music. There were lots of projects in high schools and colleges which successfully tested the effects of sound on plant growth. It was determined through repetitive testing that plants did respond to music and sound. The first book which brought this idea to most of us was: The Secret Life of Plants, by Peter Tompkins and Christopher Bird (Harper & Row 1973). In this best selling book a number of astounding revelations about plant growth were revealed. The idea that plants were influenced by sound in both positive and negative ways was demonstrated by several world class scientists at that time.
When we think of plants being affected by sunlight we are really looking at the effect of a portion of the electromagnetic spectrum on plants that portion which includes visible light. It should not surprise us that sound also impacts plant growth because it is, in essence, an extension to other parts of the electromagnetic spectrum.
The science was first disclosed in an article by Andy Coghlan which appeared in New Scientist (May 28, 1994, p.10). The article confirmed old ideas by placing them in a scientific context. It tells an excellent story about the impact of sound on plant growth, bringing to light what was before considered esoteric or mysterious science. After reading this short article and those which follow in this issue of the Flashpoints a good deal more will be thought of "singing gardeners" and "plant communicators."
Many people remember reading accounts of plant growth being stimulated by sound waves. At that time, "talking" to plants and playing plants different types of music was used to influence growth. A number of people were using these techniques without being able to completely explain the phenomena. This article is part of that story a story which could have a profound impact on the way we grow and produce our food.
Eccentrics who sing to their plants? People playing melodies to organic matter with the expectation that it will help stimulate growth? These ideas were the thoughts of some "non-scientists" until French physicist and musician, Joel Sternheimer, discovered the mechanism for how plants respond to the stimulation of sound waves. Sternheimer composes musical note sequences which help plants grow and has applied for an international patent1 covering the concept.
The sound sequences are not random but are carefully constructed melodies. Each note is chosen to correspond to an amino acid in a protein with the full tune corresponding to the entire protein. What this means is that the sounds sequenced in just the right order results in a tune which is unique and harmonizes with the internal structure of a specific plant type. Each plant type has a different sequence of notes to stimulate its growth. According to New Scientist, "Sternheimer claims that when plants "hear" the appropriate tune, they produce more of that protein. He also writes tunes that inhibit the synthesis of proteins." In other words, desirable plants could be stimulated to grow while undesirable plants (weeds for instance) could be inhibited. This is done with electromagnetic energy, in this case sound waves, pulsed to the right set of frequencies thus effecting the plant at an energetic and submolecular level.
Sternheimer translates into audible vibrations of music the quantum vibrations that occur at the molecular level as a protein is being assembled from its constituent amino acids. By using simple physics he is able to compose music which achieves this correlation. Sternheimer indicated to New Scientist that each musical note which he composes for the plant is a multiple of original frequencies that occur when amino acids join the protein chain. He says that playing the right notes stimulates the plant and increases growth. This idea is particularly interesting because it may lead to the eventual obsolescence of fertilizers used to stimulate plant growth. This new method would be cheap and relatively easily provided throughout the world, thereby avoiding many of the problems associated with the extraction, shipping, environmental and economic costs of chemical fertilizers.
Playing the right tune stimulates the formation of a plant's protein. "The length of a note corresponds to the real time it takes for each amino acid to come after the next," according to Sternheimer, who studied quantum physics and mathematics at Princeton University in New Jersey.
In experiments by Sternheimer, he claims that tomatoes exposed to his melodies grew two-and-a-half times as large as those which were untreated. Some of the treated plants were sweeter in addition to being significantly larger. The musical sequences stimulated three tomato growth promoters, cytochrome C, and thaumatin (a flavoring compound). According to Sternheimer in the New Scientist, "Six molecules were being played to the tomatoes for a total of three minutes a day."
Sternheimer also claims to have stopped the mosaic virus by playing note sequences that inhibited enzymes required by the virus. This virus would have harmed the tomato plants.
The note sequences used by the inventor are very short and need only be played one time. For example, the sequence for for cytochrome C lasts just 29 seconds. According to Sternheimer, "on average, you get four amino acids played per second" in this series.
The inventor also issued a warning for those repeating his experiments. He warns to be careful with the sound sequences because they can affect people. "Don't ask a musician to play them," he says. Sternheimer indicated that one of his musicians had difficulty breathing after playing the tune for cytochrome C.
Plant stimulation by sound may have profound implications. The idea that a cheap source of "electromagnetic fertilizer" has been developed should be exciting for many third world countries. At a time when human progress can be made through simple solutions in agriculture, resources are being wasted in the extraction of mineral and oil compounds for fertilizers. If this method of fertilization were followed the human intellect would prove superior to physical capital in terms of distribution and production of this new technology.
The idea that sound can have a healing effect on humans is being explored by a number of independent scientists around the world. The know-ledge of the "sound effect on proteins" offers insights to health practitioners of the benefits to humans. In addition to the favorable economic factors, the increased vitality of the plant substances can positively impact the health of all humans that consume them.
The patent includes melodies for cytochrome oxidase and cytochrome C which are two proteins involved in respiration. It also includes sound sequences for troponin C which regulates calcium uptake in muscles. Further, a tune was developed for inhibiting chalcone synthase which is an enzyme involved in making plant pigments.
0001] This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application, Ser. No. 08/347,353 filed Dec. 1, 1994.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0002] The present invention is directed to a method of regulating protein biosynthesis. More particularly, the invention is directed to a method for epigenetic regulation of in situ protein biosynthesis and its use in agronomy and health.
[0003] Demonstration of the musical properties of elementary particles suggests an important role for the scale at which the phenomena happen. (J. Sternheimer, C. R. Acad. Sc. Paris 297, 829, 1983). For example, it is known that the physical existence of quantum waves associated to particles propagate themselves not only in space-time, but also in that scale dimension, thus linking together successive levels of the organization of matter. (J. Sternheimer, Colloque International "Louis de Broglie, Physician et Penseur", Ancienne Ecole Polytechnique, Paris, Nov. 5-6, 1987). These waves allow an action of one scale onto the other, between phenomena that are similar enough to constitute, in a mathematically well-defined sense, harmonics of a common fundamental tone. (See J. Sternheimer, Ondes d'e'chelle [scaling waves], I. Partie Physique; II. Partie Biologique. Filed at Academie des Sciences (Paris) 1992 under seal no. 17064).
[0004] The theoretical reasons for the existence of scaling waves makes them appear as a universal phenomenon whose function is at first to ensure coherence between the different scales of a quantum system, and that especially takes shape and can be described in the process of protein biosynthesis. The peptidic chain elongation effectively results from the sequential addition of amino acids that have been brought onto the ribosome by specific transfer RNAs (tRNAs). When an amino acid, initially in a free state, comes to affix itself to its tRNA, it is stabilized with respect to thermal agitation --while keeping a relative autonomy because it is linked to the tRNA by only one degree of freedom--for its de Broglie wavelength to reach the order of magnitude of its size. This stabilization gives the amino acid wave properties.
[0005] Interference between the scaling wave associated to the amino acid and those similarly produced by the other amino acids, results in a synchronization, after a very short period of time (which can be evaluated to be about 10.sup.-12.5 second), of the proper frequencies associated with these amino acids according to one and same musical scale, which more precisely depends upon the transfer RNA population. However, to within the approximation of the chromatic tempered scale, this scale appears universal due to the very peculiar distribution of amino acid masses which is already very close to it.
[0006] The scaling wave phenomenon appears in a more explicit way when the amino acid carried by its tRNA fixes itself onto the ribosome. It is at this moment that the stabilization with respect to thermal agitation becomes such that the wavelength of the amino acid outgrows its size by a full order of magnitude. The scaling wave which then emits interferes, at the scale of the protein in formation, with similar waves previously emitted by the other amino acids. This interference draws constraints of a musical type for the temporal succession of the proper frequencies associated to these waves, so that the scaling waves continue their itinerary and insure coherence and communication between different levels of the organism. For example, the succession of these waves minimizes the dissonance (harmonic distance) and the frequency gaps (represented by melodic distance) between successive amino acids. Additional properties imply the existence of periods of minimization of harmonic distances showing punctuations in the temporal succession of frequencies which other levels will complete with correlations all the more rich and marked that they themselves are more numerous to influence the protein synthesis. The result is the prediction that proteins possess, in the very succession of the proper quantum frequencies associated to the sequence of their amino acids, musical properties all the more clear and elaborate that their biosynthesis is more sensitive to epigenetic factors in general. Conversely, it must be possible to act epigenetically, in a specific way for each protein onto that biosynthesis.
[0007] The observation of protein sequences confirms that all proteins possess musical properties in the sequence of their amino acids and these properties are all the more developed that those proteins are, in a general way, more epigenetically sensitive. (Data from M. O. Dayhoff, Atlas of protein sequence and structure, volume 5 and supplements, N.B.R.F. (Washington) 1972-78). In addition, the acoustic transposition of the series of proper frequencies corresponding to the production of scaling waves in phase with the elongation of a given protein,.shows a stimulating action onto the biosynthesis of this protein in vivo, and in a correlative way it has an inhibiting action for scaling waves in phase opposition.
[0008] In the case of animals having a nervous system the sound wave is transformed into electromagnetic impulses of the same shape and frequency right from the starting point of the auditory nerve. These impulses, by virtue of the scale invariance of scaling wave equations applied to the photon (which generalize Maxwell's equations), have a direct action, by scale resonance, on their quantum transpositions. Because the squared quantum amplitudes are proportional to the number of proteins that are simultaneously synthesized, the resonance phenomenon results, in the case of scaling waves in phase, in an increase of the rate of synthesis, as well as a regulation of its rhythm, and in the case of scaling waves in phase opposition, in a reduction of this rate. (cf. P. Buser and M. Imbert, Audition, Hermann diteur, Paris, 1987). Among plants, the sensitivity to sounds is visible through interferometry and the scaling waves behave theoretically in a similar way.
[0009] The solution to the scaling wave equation, which effectively shows the existence of scaling waves having a range close to Avogadro number, anticipates similar properties for the scaling waves drawn from the spatial distribution of amino acids (whose de Broglie wavelength is then comparable to their size) inside the protein after it has been synthesized. The solution then provides a range approximating the square root of that number. The observation of their tertiary structures confirms the existence of harmonies within vibratory frequencies of amino acids spatially nearby inside proteins (and especially at their surface, as can be expected from their wavelength). An appreciable stabilization of the effects obtained with the use of the musical transpositions is then observed using colored transpositions of these spatially distributed frequencies.
[0010] The present invention is drawn from these observations.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0011] The method of the invention comprises determining the musical notes associated with an amino acid sequence, the musical periods of the sequence, the lengths of the notes, and the tone quality of the notes through the retroaction of the amino acids and using that information to regulate the biosynthesis of the protein.
[0012] Stated in another way, the amino acids which build a protein emit a signal of quantum nature at a certain frequency. Following the properties of this signal the frequency is transposed into a musical note in such way that playing back the melody of a protein will stimulate or inhibit its synthesis. This discovery has numerous applications since deduction of the amino acid sequence of a protein provides a sequence of notes composing the melody which will act on its synthesis inside an organism. Thus, by diffusing to a plant the music of a protein which plays an important role in flowering, more flowers are produced.
[0013] Stated more scientifically, the method of this invention uses the regulating action on the biosynthesis of proteins by scale resonance of transpositions into sound of temporal sequences of quantum vibrations associated with their elongation. This action may be an increase of the rate of synthesis or a reduction of this rate, depending upon whether the modulation of the vibration frequencies used is in phase with, or in phase opposition to the elongation. This is true for the quantum vibrations as well as for their transposition into sound. The result is further stabilized by the actions, again through scale resonance, of colored light transpositions of grouped quantum vibrations arising from the spatial conformation of proteins issued from this elongation.
[0014] This method applies in a specific way to every protein of known structure. Its use is all the more appropriate when the synthesis of this protein is even more dependent upon epigenetic factors, that is to say external to the DNA of the system to which it belongs, and especially in the present case, upon acoustic and electromagnetic factors. In addition, the method uses the determination of metabolic agonisms and antagonisms of these proteins due to scale resonance phenomena naturally associated with their biosynthesis. The characterization of these proteins in their associated metabolic subsets is another feature of the present invention.
[0015] The identification of proteins designed to be regulated as part of a given application includes other criteria a correspondence between acoustic and electromagnetic phenomena or which effects can be observed on living beings and the transposed proteic sequences.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[0016] Certain features and advantages will be evidence from the drawings when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawing in which:
0021] The present invention will now be described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which preferred embodiments of the invention are shown. This invention may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein; rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will convey the scope of the invention to those skilled in the art.
[0022] There is provided a method of regulating protein synthesis in situ, using a musical sequence corresponding to the amino acid sequence of a protein through the decoding and transposition into sound of a temporal series of quantum vibrations associated with the elongation of the amino acid chain of the protein. The method of regulating protein synthesis in situ requires at least the following steps: the sequence of musical notes is determined; the period appearing in the molecule is determined; the period is rectified, if necessary; the rhythmic style is checked through the distribution of the bases of DNA; and the tone quality is determined.
[0023] Determining The Sequence Of Musical Notes. The sequent of music notes associated with the amino acid chain of a protein is determined by associating a musical note with each amino acid. More specifically, within the approximation of the tempered scale a universal code for the stimulation of protein synthesis is obtained. That code is:
[0024] Gly=low A; Ala=C; Ser=E; Pro Val, Thr, Cys=F; Leu, Ile, Asn, Asp=G; Gln, Lys, Glu, Met=A; His=B flat; Phe, as well as SeC=B; Arg, Tyr=sharp C; Trp=sharp D
[0025] which are deduced from the notes of the code by taking the notes of the chromatic tempered scale which are symmetrical to those of said keynotes with respect to central G.
[0026] There is another code for inhibition, which is deduced from the preceding code by symmetrization of the logarithms of the frequencies around their central value:
[0027] Trp=C; Arg, Tyr=D; Phe, SeC=E flat; His=E; Gln Lys, Glu Met=F; Leu, Ile, Asn, Asp=G; Pro, Val, Thr, Cys=A; Ser=B flat; Ala=sharp D; Gly=sharp F
[0028] that are deduced from the notes of the code by taking the notes of the chromatic tempered scale which are symmetrical to those of said keynotes with respect to central G.
[0029] The application of the universal code results in scaling waves respectively in phase with and in phase opposition to those taking place during the synthesis process. The term "universal code" means that this code is identical for all proteins to within the approximation of the tempered scale; the low A, for a central frequency located 76 octaves below the centre of gravity of the initial frequencies of leucine, isoleucine, and asparagine, is at 220 Hz. The expression of harmonic distance given above extends the definition suggested by Y. Hellegouarch in C. R. Math. Rep. Acad. Sci. Canada, Volume 4, Page 227, 1982. The exact values of the frequencies depend on the proportions of the groups of the above-mentioned amino acids among the transfer RNA population surrounding the protein biosynthesis.
[0030] Determination of Frequency. The next step is to derive the frequency of each of the notes. The following code is derived in the following manner, which also optionally enables to give a more precise frequency value to each note. The frequency of the musical notes is calculated from the frequencies of amino acids in their free state (proportional to their masses) by minimizing the global harmonic distance .SIGMA.ij P.sub.i P.sub.j logsup (pi, qj) calculated for all possible pairs of notes, (pi/qj) being the harmonic intervals globally the closest to the corresponding proper frequency ratios. Their respective proportions P.sub.i, P.sub.j in the environing population of transfer RNAs are taken into account. While respecting the condition (.delta.f
[0031] Determination Of The Musical Period. Once the frequency of each musical note is determined, the musical period is determined by identifying similar series of musical notes. The existence of musical periods results directly from that of scaling waves.
[0032] An indication is given by the presence of obvious cadences producing punctuations in the musical development. Obvious cadences include such cadences as GG, F-S. That is to say, F closely followed by S, as well as the cadence ending the signal peptide when it is present, for stimulation; series of R or Y, for inhibition; exceptionally, relative pauses induced by harmonic variations which would otherwise be too straight; and in all cases, cadences expressing the return to the tonic note.
[0033] The similar passages are then determined. One method of determination is by the direct repetition of notes. When this method is used the period is given by a simple calculation of autocorrelations of notes. More specifically, by minimizing the frequency differences between notes by the number that minimizes the average on the protein of melodic distances between notes located an integer number of intervals apart.
[0034] A second method is to determine the melodic movements of the musical notes. The period is calculated by autocorrelations of signatures--or frequency variation signs--from one note to the next. More specifically, the period is determined by calculating autocorrelations of the melodic distances from one note to the other, the distances being counted with their sign, i.e., multiplied by the corresponding signatures; or even more finely, by the number which minimizes the average on the protein of step by step melodic distances variations, to within an integer number of intervals apart. The repetition of the melodic contours are processed by a calculation of autocorrelations of pairs, or even better, of triplets of signatures.
[0035] A third method of determining the period of the musical notes is by the logic of the harmonic movement that reproduces the notes or the melodic movement to the nearest simple harmonic transposition. The period is then given by the number that minimizes the average on the protein of harmonic distances between notes located an integer number of intervals apart.
[0036] Sometimes when an "alignment" of similar sequences is present, the period appears in the additions or in the deletions of certain of the sequences. The result gives a melodically and harmonically coherent progression. To do that, account is taken of the fact that the last notes of each period or member of phrase--usually the second half, and more particularly the last note--as well as those situated on the strong beat are the most important for this progression. The final result is the most significant respecting the whole of these criteria. These different elements are balanced according to their relative importance in the protein, and especially the harmonic and melodic distance by the square of the ratio of their normalized standard deviations. There is usually one that is distinctly more significant than the others.
[0037] Cases similar to allosteria nevertheless exist, and have a biological meaning (stimulation or inhibition by such molecule or such other one during the metabolism), but influence more frequently the position of the measure bars than the period. It is noted that metabolic function is different according to the context, for instance, CG rich or AT rich; the measure bars depending upon the composition of the DNA, as the "Christmas trees" that can be seen during certain syntheses clearly displayed (cf. B. Alberts and al., Molecular biology of the cell, 2nd edition, Garland Publ. Co. 1989, page 539).
[0038] Determining The Lengths Of Musical Notes. If necessary, the period is rectified so that the melodic passages that repeat or follow one another can be found in the same place inside the measure. From this rectification the individual lengths of the musical notes are deduced. This operation of adjusting the phrasing to the measure is comparable to the well known phenomenon of lengthening the vowels of a sung text.
[0039] In practice, the operations described above can be performed most easily with a keyboard, such as a Casio.TM. equipped with a "one key play" device, or with a computer programmed especially for that purpose with stored sequence of musical notes and where the sequence of notes can be played. However, some precautions are required. Prudence implies, among other things, to decode the same molecule or a musically similar molecule, in the direction of inhibition (or in any case in the direction opposite from the initial one), taking into account the fact that molecules very often have a preferential decoding direction. It is often the case that pairs of molecules that sensibly exert the same function find one pair being more musical in inhibition and the other one in stimulation.
[0040] Checking Rhythmic Style Through The Distribution Of The Bases of DNA. When the molecule is musical enough, the period of autocorrelations corresponds to that of the protein. The autocorrelations determine in principle the measure bars, the ranks of base triplets--or more precisely of bases in third position in these triplets--for which the peaks of autocorrelation are the highest, corresponding to the most accentuated notes. By referring to codon sage, in comparison with known molecules (already decoded, or more regular and thus raising less difficulties) having the same supposed rhythmic style; the style of musical rhythm (which by constraining the accentuation of notes, influences the choice of bases in third position) determining the codon usage. Molecules of the same style must therefore have the same codon usage. If necessary, the decoding of some passages is corrected.
[0041] Determining The Tone Quality. Tone quality is, in principle, different for every molecule and for every distribution of musical notes. In theory, tone quality mainly depends upon the molecule itself but it also depends upon all the levels of the organism which retroact on the harmonic structure of amino acid vibrations. The tone quality of the musical sequence is determined by comparing the repartition of the music sequence of the amino acid chain to the average repartition of those notes of the whole of the protein to determine which harmonics must be raised or lowered. The term "tone quality" or timbre is characterized by the harmonic structure of a note and more precisely by the variation of harmonic structure over a given note.
[0042] A first approach is given by adjusting the distribution of molecule notes to the theoretical graph of that distribution. The distribution is deduced from the scaling wave equation. The distribution also corresponds to what can be observed in average, on the whole of proteins. This adjustment to the tone quality requires determination of which harmonics are amplified and which are softened in the wanted tone. See, French Patent No. 8302122. The closest tone quality is then selected in a palette of given ones. For example, a voice memory or as one can already find included in many expanders and musical softwares. To distinguish more precisely between three situations: (1) distribution of notes constant along the molecule to provide a relatively fixed harmonic structure; (2) straight distribution changes to provide different successive tones of instrument, for instance cytochrome C with several organ registers; and (3) progressive distribution change which then reproduces the time evolution of the harmonic structure of one note, for example, myosin, where this evolution indicates a timbre of trumpet.
[0043] Apart from this, determining the tempo gives no real problem to the technician because it normally follows from the rhythmic style. It is generally all the faster that there are important redundancies in the proteic sequence, as it is the case for fibrous proteins.
[0044] Determining The Colors. Optionally, the colors are determined by applying the universal code. The color is deduced from vibration frequencies of individual amino acids through the formula (drawn from scaling wave theory): .nu..about..nu..sub.0 Argch (e (.function./.function..sub.0) Logch 1), where (.function., .function..sub.0 represent the proper quantum frequencies associated with aminoacids as previously, and .nu., .nu..sub.0 those of colors, the index 0 showing central values. This gives the following code relating to the stabilization of proteins synthesized in situ (the code related to the stabilization of their inhibition is deduced as in section 1 by symmetrization of the logarithms of frequencies with respect to the central lemon yellow):
[0045] Gly=dark red: Ala=bright red: Ser=orange; Pro, Val. Thr, Cys=ochre; Leu, Ile, Asn, Asp=lemon yellow; Gln, Glu, Lys, Met=green; His=emerald: Phe=blue; Arg, Tyr=indigo; Trp=purple,
[0046] these frequencies then being moved towards red or purple according to the global repartition of the molecule frequencies in a way similar to the description for tone quality as above. The spatial position of colors is the same as those of the amino acids in the tridimensional spatial representation of the molecules.
[0047] Several examples are set forth below to illustrate the invention and the manner in which it is carried out. In these examples as well as in the figures, the one-letter notation for amino acids: Gly=G; Ala=A; Ser=S; Pro, Val, Thr, Cys=P, V, T, C respectively; Leu, Ile, Asn, Asp=L, I, N, D; Gln, Glu, Lys, Met=Q, E, K, M; His=H; Phe=F; Arg, Tyr=R, Y; Trp=W is used.