ZAGREB, 28 July (Hina) - Scientists from the Ruđer Bošković Institute (IRB) have become the first in the world to decode the genes of a rare parasitic worm, Dentitruncus truttae, which inhabits the intestines of fish in Croatia's Krka River, and they have identified genes that may be crucial in the fight against heavy metal pollution.
Although unremarkable in appearance, these parasitic worms, known as acanthocephala, have an astonishing ability to "absorb" metals such as lead, mercury, and cadmium from their surroundings through the intestinal wall of their fish hosts, the IRB said in a statement.
Thanks to this ability, the species attracted the attention of IRB researchers, who have for the first time decoded the complete set of active genes in this species, identifying those involved in metal binding.
They thus explained how this organism may survive in environments with high concentrations of toxic metals, and may even help protect its host fish in polluted waters.
The scientific community has long known that acanthocephala can absorb metals from their environment and accumulate them in their tissues, but the mechanism behind this process was completely unknown, explained Sara Šariri, the study's lead author and a PhD student at the IRB Laboratory for Biological Effects of Metals at the Division for Marine and Environmental Research.
Our research is the first step toward understanding exactly how these parasites do this, and why they are so effective at it, she added.
Since genomic and transcriptomic data had previously been published for only one of the nearly 1,300 known acanthocephalan species, the results of this study represent a major scientific advance.
These findings provide a foundation for further research into how organisms cope with metal intake. Our group is among the few worldwide to introduce acanthocephala as environmental indicators, and we are now recognised in the field of environmental parasitology, said Dr Vlatka Filipović, corresponding author of the study and a scientist at the same IRB laboratory.
As she explained, this discovery opens a new and intriguing scientific chapter by raising the question: if acanthocephala protect their host fish from excess metal uptake through these mechanisms, should we always view parasites in a negative light?
In an era when climate change and water pollution are among the world's most pressing threats, parasites like acanthocephala could play an unexpected role in environmental monitoring. Their ability not only to survive but potentially to shield their host fish from excessive metal exposure highlights both their remarkable biological resilience and their untapped potential in nature conservation, the IRB concluded.
