How I showed that snails use their shells to trap and kill parasites
Thursday, July 6, 2017 - 08:02
in Biology & Nature
Farmers and gardeners spend much of the year in a constant battle to stop slugs and snails eating their vegetables. But these animals have been locked in their own co-evolutionary arms race for millions of years – a fight against parasites, specifically nematode worms. Now my latest research has shown that snails evolved to use their shells in this battle as a way to encapsulate and kill the parasites as part of their immune system.