In order to keep its cells in line,
Healthy, without aberrations,
A body constantly keeps a fine
Check on its genes' equation.
It monitors its DNA
And finds where corrections are due,
And “edits” its genes in its own way
Their balance to pursue.
That's what my granddaughters' quests embrace:
What are the body's controls?
Where and how does the “edit” take place,
And what are nature's goals?
She found substitutions in the RNA chain
Take place at particular spots,
In which the pattern of the genes' domain
Is changed into “loops” and “knots.”
And, though it may earn her a degree,
And maybe fame and glory,
The puzzle still appears to be
The same eternal story:
Are these peculiarities, strange and stark,
Genetic imperfections,
Or just a signal, to embark
On editing corrections?
This is the problem that ever imbued
The human intellect,
And that through history was pursued:
What's cause and what's effect?...