ALLELE
electrons protons neutrons
DNA chromosomes genes
I share none of these
in common with those
around & about me
my soul is not from here
surely I was
sired & birthed
in a distant galaxy
abandoned by passing
comet or meteorite
now bound & enslaved
upon this planet plane
longing to return
what once unknown
genetic drift that
brought me here
from some falling star
electrons protons neutrons
DNA chromosomes genes
I share none of these
in common with those
around & about me
my soul is not from here
surely I was
sired & birthed
in a distant galaxy
abandoned by passing
comet or meteorite
now bound & enslaved
upon this planet plane
longing to return
what once unknown
genetic drift that
brought me here
from some falling star
"Allele" is a short form of allelomorph ("other form", a word coined by British geneticists William Bateson and Edith Rebecca Saunders) which was used in the early days of genetics to describe variant forms of a gene detected as different phenotypes. Each gene is located at a specific location on a chromosome in 2 copies (1 from each parent), but the copies are not necessarily identical due to mutation, in which case they are alleles.
ReplyDelete