Homocysteine - a reply
Note the smell
that does sometimes dwell
An unpleasant sort
Released in what is called a fart.
Nature plans are most wise
And seldom does compromise
But now and then there is an abundance
So out the stack they go in thunderance.
Skatoles, and Indoles and mercapatans
Are fancy sounding end product names
But the fragrance of them all
Is enough to spoil any Society Ball.
Skatoles and Indoles you see
Are made from tryptophan, an amino acid free.
Funny ring shaped structures of a sort
That contain nitrogen that nature must abort.
And the mercapatan in the brew
Comes from sulfur compounds too.
Amino acids once they were
In disingenuous metabolism the pot did stir.
(Methionine, cysteine, cystine, homocystine
are their names when they begin.)
They're reduced to a simple gas
Called methyl mercaptan when it's passed.
A potent end product; a sulfurous waste
Wafts through the air, though just a trace.
Methane, the companion gas
Is responsible for the flash
When in the presence of a lighted match
It escapes from the downward hatch.
All are end products of metabolism
Nature's answer to socialism(?)
(Homocysteine is the product of metabolism
of methionine)
Sidi J. Mahtrow
http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/homocysteine-a-reply/
