  Proteins are key building blocks of virtually all life, providing the
material foundation of spider silk, cells, and hair, but also offering other
functions from enzymes to drugs, and pathogens like viruses. Based on a
nanomechanical analysis of the structure and motions of atoms and molecules at
multiple scales, we report sonified versions of the coronavirus spike protein
of the pathogen of COVID-19, 2019-nCoV. The audio signal, created using a novel
nanomechanical sonification method, features an overlay of the vibrational
signatures of the protein's primary, secondary and higher-order structures.
Presenting musical encoding in two versions - one in the amino-acid scale and
one based on equal temperament tuning - the method allows for expressing
protein structures in audible space, offering novel avenues to represent,
analyze and design architectural features across length- and time-scales. We
further report a hierarchical frequency spectrum analysis of five distinct
protein structures, which offer insights into how genetic mutations, and the
binding of the virus spike protein to the human ACE2 cell receptor directly
influence the audio. Applications of the approach may include the development
of de novo antibodies by designing protein sequences that match, through
melodic counterpoints, the binding sites in the spike protein. Other
applications of audible coding of matter include material design by
manipulating sound, detecting mutations, and offering a way to reach out to
broader communities to explain the physics of proteins. It also forms a
physics-based compositional technique to create new art, referred to as
materiomusic, which is akin to finding a new palette of colors for a painter.
Here, the nanomechanical structure of matter, reflected in an oscillatory
framework, presents a new palette for sound generation, and can complement or
support human creativity.
