Is this the future of off-roading? Bizarre electric concept car 'The Huntress' has wheels that can twist.The hunt is now on for another one-in-a-million snail, with the public invited to search their hedgerows and plant plots.Дr Davison added: 'There is a chance, because it is such a rare thing, that anyone who can find and identify another of these sinistral snails may even find themselves named as a contributor on a research paper we publish in the future as a result of this.'ДЄnyone who finds a sinistral snail should contact Dr DavidsonВ at the University of Nottingham. However, they don' t really like doing this and from our perspective, the genetic data from offspring of two lefty snails would be far richer and more valuable to us.' Unfortunately, as the mirror image of normal snails, Jeremy's genitals are on the opposite side, making it harder to mate with them.Дr Davison said: 'Snails are hermaphrodites meaning that if they want to they can reproduce on their own without the need for another mate. Dr Davison hopes Jeremy will have baby snails, as those with the same shell pattern, and without, will be easier to examine for the genes which cause this. Researchers believe that the same genes controlling basic body design are responsible in both the snail's condition and in dextrocardia, generating a mirror image of the typical layout of organs (stock image used)Д«ut mapping the snail's entire genome for clues would be a huge task. The condition, thought to affect one in 10,000 people, is hoped to be figured out more clearly using data from Jeremy.

It is said he only became aware of the condition after a doctor overlooked his appendicitis because his appendix was not where it was expected to be. The same genes are believed to cause dextrocardia, associated in a small number of people with heart defects which cut oxygen levels in blood pumped from the heart.Дonny Osmond reportedly has dextrocardia with situs inversus, which means his other internal organs are positioned wrongly too. While the shells of regular snails are 'dextral', spiralling in a right-handed, clockwise direction, Jeremy's shell is 'sinistral', going anti-clockwise.

'We are very keen to study the snail's genetics to find out whether this is a result of a developmental glitch or whether this is a genuine inherited genetic trait.'Д«rown garden snails are extremely common and Jeremy's unusual shell might never have been spotted had a retired scientist from the Natural History Museum not happened to be passing a compost heap in Rayne's Park, South West London.ДЄware of Dr Davison's interest in snail genetics, he got in touch and sent the creature north. It is hoped this could determine what flips the heart onto the wrong side of the body in humans, which can be linked with heart defects, and perhaps help to find a cure.Дr Angus Davison, associate professor and reader in evolutionary genetics at Nottingham University's School of Life Sciences, said: 'This really is an exciting find вЂ“ I have been studying snails for more than 20 years and I have never seen one of these before. Baby snails with the same condition could then be explored to find the gene which causes it.

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