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Jeremy (snail)

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Jeremy
Jeremy the left-coiling snail on top of Bree, a right-coiling snail.
SpeciesCornu aspersum
BreedSinistral
SexHermaphrodite
HatchedLondon, UK
Died11 October 2017[1]
OwnerUniversity of Nottingham
ResidenceUnited Kingdom
Offspring56
AppearanceLeft-coiled
Named afterJeremy Corbyn

Jeremy was a left-coiled garden snail studied by researchers from the University of Nottingham.

The snail had a rare condition that caused its shell to coil to the left; in most snails the shell coils to the right. It was hoped that the condition would be due to a mutation, and that genes identified from this snail and its offspring would help scientists unlock genetic markers in humans and other animals.[2] At first it was thought to be a rare genetic mutation,[3] although later work revealed that it was likely due to an accident in early development.[4]

Jeremy was named after the left-wing British Labour politician Jeremy Corbyn, on account of it being a "lefty" snail, but also due to Corbyn's reported love of gardening.[5][6][7] The snail became famous worldwide after a public appeal to find other left-coiled snails for a mate.[8][9] Jeremy had 56 offspring and died on 11 October 2017, aged "at least two" years.[1]

Life

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A retired scientist found Jeremy in southwest London. He contacted the University of Nottingham and sent them the snail. A group of researchers, led by "resident snail expert" Dr Angus Davison, then launched a public appeal to find another 'lefty' snail as a mate.[10] Due to the unique positioning of the reproductive body parts in anticlockwise-coiled snails, they are only able to mate with snails that also have anticlockwise shells.[11][12] Two other anticlockwise snails were discovered and sent to the university;[13] however, these two snails mated with each other instead, producing 170 right-coiled snails.[14] One of the left-coiled snails later mated with Jeremy, producing 56 offspring, all of which also had right-coiling shells.[15]

It is believed that the genetic mutation might reappear in a later generation due to a recessive gene.[16][17] In snails, shell-coiling direction is thought to be an example of a maternal effect – a trait that is determined not by an organism's own genotype, but by the genotype of its mother. In this case, Jeremy's mother (who likely possessed a right-coiling, or clockwise, shell), would have had two copies of the recessive gene, expressed in Jeremy's anticlockwise shell. Jeremy, with only one copy of the gene, would be expected to mother snails with right-coiling shells. This recessive trait may reappear later in another generation, even if a previous generation appears to have right-coiling shells, because the mutation is hereditary.[18][19]

Further research

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While studying this snail, Davison discovered a gene that determined whether a snail's shell coiled to the left or to the right. He said that body asymmetry in humans and other animals could be affected by the same gene and that the research could help understand the positioning of organs according to genetic markers.[20][21]

Davison was quoted as saying:

This may be the end for Jeremy, but now the snail has finally produced offspring, this is a point in our long-term research goal. Ultimately, we would like to know why these snails are so rare, but also how the left and right sides of the body are signalled at the molecular level, and whether a similar process is taking place during human development.[22]

Research was expected to continue on the offspring of these snails, and the University of Nottingham had seven left-coiled snails by October 2017.[23]

In July 2018, the research team at the University of Nottingham announced the arrival of St Stephen, a 'lefty' snail of the species Cepaea nemoralis and stated in a tweet that they were looking for potential mates.[24]

It was hoped that this research will lead to insights into rare conditions like situs inversus and situs ambiguus where the positioning of organs in the body is reversed or misplaced due to genetic malformations.[25][26][27]

Sinistral snails

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Jeremy was an example of a rare sinistral snail in a species that usually has right-handed shell-coiling.[28] Such snail kings are individual snails whose shell winds in the opposite direction given the standard for the specific snail species.[29] For instance, in the case of garden snails, snail kings feature sinistral helices instead of the more common dextral helices; this is referred to as 'situs inversus'.[30] For garden snails, researchers estimate the occurrence frequency of snail kings at 1:40,000 individuals.[4] However, in some other species of snail, the counterclockwise shell-coiling is quite common, and in a few cases the more uncommon shell coiling is the right-hand (clockwise) direction.[31][32]

Snail kings may occur after the mating of two dextral helix snails (with the offspring of these snails continuing to be sinistral) and are therefore considered to be a highly illustrative example that heredity patterns are not purely dominant-recessive.[33]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b "Jeremy the 'lefty' snail dies days after mate has young". BBC.com. 12 October 2017. Retrieved 7 September 2020. The university said it could not be sure of Jeremy's exact age but he was 'at least two'.
  2. ^ Sandeman, Kit (12 October 2017). "Jeremy the 'one in a million' snail dies, but leaves its own scientific legacy". Nottingham Post. Archived from the original on 20 October 2017. Retrieved 20 October 2017.
  3. ^ Feltman, Rachel (16 October 2017). "In loving memory of Jeremy, the one-in-a-million mutant snail". Popular Science. New York City. Archived from the original on 20 October 2017. Retrieved 20 October 2017.
  4. ^ a b Angus Davison, Philippe Thomas (3 June 2020), "Internet 'shellebrity' reflects on origin of rare mirror-image snails", Biology Letters, vol. 16, no. 6, The Royal Society, doi:10.1098/rsbl.2020.0110, PMC 7336844, PMID 32486938
  5. ^ Frymorgen, Tomasz (20 October 2017). "RIP Jeremy: The tragic tale of a mutant snail". BBC Three. Archived from the original on 20 October 2017. Retrieved 20 October 2017.
  6. ^ Mandelbaum, Ryan F. (13 October 2017). "Lefty Snail Jeremy Has Died, Bringing a Heartwarming Story to an End". Gizmodo. Archived from the original on 18 October 2017. Retrieved 20 October 2017.
  7. ^ "Jeremy the snail who struggled to find love has died". ITV News. Archived from the original on 19 October 2017. Retrieved 20 October 2017.
  8. ^ Breese, Chris (12 October 2017). "Jeremy the 'one in a million' lefty snail dies at University of Nottingham". Notts TV News. Archived from the original on 20 October 2017. Retrieved 20 October 2017.
  9. ^ Barlow, Jamie (8 November 2016). "One-in-a-million Nottingham snail Jeremy finds love in Suffolk". Notts TV News. Archived from the original on 20 October 2017. Retrieved 20 October 2017.
  10. ^ "Help find Jeremy the 'lefty' snail a mate". BBC News. 20 October 2016. Archived from the original on 13 September 2017. Retrieved 15 June 2019.
  11. ^ "Jeremy the lefty snail has died a proud papa". CBC Radio. Archived from the original on 19 October 2017. Retrieved 20 October 2017.
  12. ^ "Is it love for Jeremy the lefty snail?". BBC News. Retrieved 20 October 2017.
  13. ^ "Jeremy the snail finds 'lefty' lover". BBC News. 8 November 2016. Archived from the original on 13 September 2017. Retrieved 20 October 2017.
  14. ^ "Rare 'lefty' snail left on the shelf". BBC News. Archived from the original on 14 October 2017. Retrieved 20 October 2017.
  15. ^ Klein, JoAnna (12 October 2017). "Jeremy the Lefty Snail Is Dead. His Offspring Are All Right". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 19 October 2017. Retrieved 20 October 2017.
  16. ^ "Tragic Love Triangle Is Sad For Lonely Rare Snail, Still Good For Science". NPR.org. Archived from the original on 20 October 2017. Retrieved 20 October 2017.
  17. ^ "Jeremy, The Lonely, Left-Twisting Snail, Dies — But Knows Love Before The End". NPR.org. Archived from the original on 19 October 2017. Retrieved 20 October 2017.
  18. ^ Miglani, Gurbachan S. (26 August 2002). Advanced Genetics. CRC Press. ISBN 9781439892930. Archived from the original on 20 October 2017.
  19. ^ Hartl, Daniel L.; Jones, Elizabeth W. (2005). Genetics: Analysis of Genes and Genomes. Jones & Bartlett Learning. ISBN 9780763715113. Archived from the original on 20 October 2017.
  20. ^ "RIP Jeremy the lefty garden snail". Phys.org. Archived from the original on 16 October 2017. Retrieved 20 October 2017.
  21. ^ "Jeremy The Lefty Snail Has Died, But He Leaves A Legacy At Last". IFLScience. Archived from the original on 20 October 2017. Retrieved 20 October 2017.
  22. ^ "Jeremy the 'lefty' snail dies". BBC News. 12 October 2017. Archived from the original on 13 October 2017. Retrieved 20 October 2017.
  23. ^ Horton, Helena (12 October 2017). "Jeremy the 'lefty' snail dies – but not before finally producing offspring". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Archived from the original on 19 October 2017. Retrieved 20 October 2017.
  24. ^ @leftysnail (9 July 2018). "Announcing the arrival of St. Stephen, the only lefty grove snail in the whole of Europe, perhaps the world. (species: Cepaea nemoralis). Looking for #snaillove - but we are going to need a partner for Stephen, or else s/he is going to have to do a selfie" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  25. ^ "Jeremy the lefty snail has now been rejected by two other lefty snails". Popular Science. Retrieved 20 October 2017.
  26. ^ "Are you left-handed? Your body could be back to front". The Independent. 30 April 2015. Archived from the original on 8 June 2022. Retrieved 20 October 2017.
  27. ^ Weerakkody, Yuranga. "Heterotaxy syndrome". Radiopaedia. Retrieved 20 October 2017.
  28. ^ Knapton, Sarah (21 October 2016). "Meet Jeremy the lonely snail hoping to find a 'lefty'mate". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Archived from the original on 26 January 2017. Retrieved 20 October 2017.
  29. ^ Schneckenkönig auf Partnersuche (in German), Austrian Broadcasting Corporation, ORF, 3 June 2020, retrieved 19 August 2021
  30. ^ Situs Inversus (in German), St.Galler Tagblatt, 19 April 2019, retrieved 7 March 2022
  31. ^ Fletcher, Hugh; Hickey, Ivor; Winter, Paul (21 August 2012). Instant Notes in Genetics. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 9781134184569. Archived from the original on 20 October 2017.
  32. ^ Fletcher, Hugh L.; Hickey, G. Ivor (10 May 2012). Genetics. Garland Science. ISBN 9780415693141. Archived from the original on 20 October 2017.
  33. ^ Sturtevant, Alfred Henry (5 October 1923), "Inheritance of Direction of Coilling in Limnaea", Science, vol. 58, no. 1501, American Association for the Advancement of Science, pp. 269–270, Bibcode:1923Sci....58..269S, doi:10.1126/science.58.1501.269, PMID 17837785, retrieved 19 August 2021
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