It's amazing what can spur ideas to form. Recently, I've been reading some research papers about quorum sensing in bacteria for a molecular pathogenesis course to refresh my memory on the autoinducer systems. Research papers are a bit dry to say the least, probably because the majority of scientists don't take very much interest in writing (but there are some amusing papers--I remember one I read several years ago about a signaling system involved in development where copious Star Wars metaphors abounded--how that paper got past the reviewers is beyond me). Anyway, these quorum sensing mechanisms are basically phosphorelay systems where phosphates are shuttled from protein to protein in the bacterial cell until it hits the target gene repressor and makes it fall off the DNA. The freed genetic material is then transcribed which can in turn do several things--such as making bacteria form colonies and biofilms.
Well, wouldn't it be nice to have a nice metaphor for this? So I began to think of a tiny mongoose jumping from rock to rock in a river to reach the other side. And then, I naturally thought, why don't I put a mongoose into the novel?
Now all I have to do is to think of a way to incorporate it into the story without sounding too foolish.
