North Coast Synthesis Ltd.

Genome Jazz

Music generated by sonification of various naturally-occurring protein sequences.

Miraculin occurs in the "miracle berry," Synsepalum dulcificum. It temporarily alters people's taste perception so that sour foods taste sweet.

Image: Synsepalum dulcificum.

Insulin is a hormone produced in the pancreas, that regulates the metabolism of carbohydrates and is used as an injected drug in treating diabetes.

Image: hexamer of an insulin-like protein.

Green Fluorescent Protein is produced by the jellyfish Aequorea victoria and used for measuring gene expression in molecular biology; organisms can be engineered to express GFP when they express some other gene, and then researchers can look for the characteristic fluorescence to see where the other gene is being expressed.

Image: Aequorea victoria.

The "spike protein" gives coronaviruses their unique appearance. It plays an important role in the process by which they infect cells.

Image: SARS-Cov-2.

Beta-endorphin is one of several short peptides with opiate-like painkilling effects, produced in the pituitary gland.

Image: habanero peppers, high in capsaicin, which causes pain and is thought to lead to the release of endorphins.

One of the best-known prion proteins. The molecule occurs normally in the nervous systems of mammals, but it is capable of being re-folded into an abnormal form that then aggregates into "plaques," which seem to be either a cause or an effect of the damage to neurons seen in diseases like Alzheimer's.

Image: beetle with forget-me-nots.