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It looks like every other brown garden snail.<br>But this snail, called Jeremy, is actually pretty special if you look more closely.<br>In fact it beat odds of one in a million to be born with a shell which spirals not in the normal right-handed, clockwise direction but left.<br>Scroll down for video <br>      (image:  )  Jeremy the snail has a shell which swirls the opposite way to most other snails (pictured), and his snail genitals are a mirror image of a normal snail. Researchers hope the left-handed mollusc could reveal more about the genetic basis of a similar condition in humans<br>Bizarrely this may give Jeremy something in common with 1970s pop idol Donny Osmond, who reportedly has a rare condition placing his heart at the wrong side of his chest, on the right.<br>The same genes are believed to cause both this condition, dextrocardia, in people and to twist snails' shells round the wrong way.<br>  RELATED ARTICLES                                                                        Share this article                  Share                  76 shares                                  Jeremy was discovered close to a compost heap in London, and become an unlikely star.<br>The 'lefty' snail, who is unable to mate with normal as his snails genitals are on the opposite side, is the subject of a nationwide campaign by Nottingham University to find a mate with a shell spiralling the same way.<br>      (image:  )    Donny Osmond reportedly has dextrocardia, a rare condition in which his heart is on the opposite side - more on the right than on left of centre<br> WHAT DO A SNAIL FROM LONDON AND DONNY OSMOND HAVE IN COMMON?  It may sound like the opening line of a joke, but many may wonder what 70's pop sensation Donny Osmond and Jeremy the snail have in common.<br>Both have an element of their biological body plan which flips their organs to a mirror image of what would normally be expected.<br>Donny Osmond reportedly has dextrocardia, a rare condition in which his heart is on the opposite side - more on the right than on left of centre.<br>Jeremy the snail has a shell which swirls the opposite way to most other snails, and his snail genitals are a mirror image of a normal snail. <br>Researchers believe that the same genes controlling basic body design are responsible in both the snail's condition and in dextrocardia.<br>They hope that by finding an equally rare mate for the 'left-handed' snail they can study its offspring and zero in on the genes responsible for the mirror image body plan.<br> adverts.addToArray({"pos":"mpu_factbox"})Advertisement  Baby snails with the same condition could then be explored to find the gene which causes it.<br>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.<br>Dr Angus Davison, associate professor and reader in evolutionary genetics at Nottingham University's School of Life Sciences, said: 'This really is an exciting find - I have been studying snails for more than 20 years and I have never seen one of these before.<br>'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.'<br>Brown 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.<br>Aware of Dr Davison's interest in snail genetics, he got in touch and sent the creature north.<br>While the shells of regular snails are 'dextral', spiralling in a right-handed, clockwise direction, Jeremy's shell is 'sinistral', going anti-clockwise.<br>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.<br>Donny Osmond reportedly has dextrocardia with situs inversus, which means his other internal organs are positioned wrongly too. 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.<br>The condition, thought to affect one in 10,000 people, is hoped to be figured out more clearly using data from Jeremy.<br>      (image:  )    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)<br>But mapping the snail's entire genome for clues would be a huge task. 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.<br>Unfortunately, as the mirror image of normal snails, Jeremy's genitals are on the opposite side, making it harder to mate with them.<br>Dr Davison said: 'Snails are hermaphrodites meaning that if they want to they can reproduce on their own without the need for another mate. 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.'<br>The hunt is now on for another one-in-a-million snail, with the public invited to search their hedgerows and plant plots.<br>Dr 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.'<br>Anyone who finds a sinistral snail should contact  at the University of Nottingham.<br>                                        data-track-module="am-external-links^external-links">  Read more: