SYDNEY, Aug. 20 (Xinhua) -- Invasive white Italian snails use mutated mucus to resist pesticides in Australia, threatening the country's agriculture, a new study has revealed.
Researchers found that the trails of the white Italian snail Theba pisana contained large amounts of an enzyme that can neutralize pesticide toxins, making these "super snails" resistant to control methods, according to a statement released on Wednesday by Australia's University of the Sunshine Coast (UniSC).
"This mutated enzyme has been found previously in insects like ticks and flies that also developed chemical resistance over time," said UniSC PhD researcher and lead author Inali Lutschini, adding its abundance in land snails came as a surprise.
Co-author UniSC Professor of Functional Genomics Scott Cummins said the team is working to use this finding against the snails to reduce reliance on widely used organophosphates, pesticides that can harm the environment and non-target species.
The snails deploy the enzyme in their slime as a shield against pesticides, particularly secreting it in abundance when they're mating and are most active and vulnerable, Cummins said, adding invasive snails are a global problem, causing about 170 million Australian dollars (about 109 million U.S. dollars) in annual damage to the country's grain industry alone.
White Italian snails Theba pisana, which has spread across southern Australia since the early 20th century, is small but breeds quickly, according to the study published in international science journal PLOS One.
As molluscicides are widely used but snails are becoming resistant, researchers hope novel approaches to biological or gene-based control, including spider venoms, could help, as some spiders feed on snails.
"Our research suggests that rotating types of pesticides may be more effective than increasing concentrations because snails are able to evolve defense mechanisms," Lutschini said. ■
