Microbes Are Evolving to Digest Plastic, Study Finds

soil microbes g75226b2a9 1920 Microbes Are Evolving to Digest Plastic, Study Finds

Takeaways:

  • Researchers have found that microbes found in ocean and soils around the world are evolving to digest plastic.
  • A recent study found that over 30 000 enzymes that have the potential to digest 10 different types of plastic.
  • “We found multiple lines of evidence supporting the fact that the global microbiome’s plastic-degrading potential correlates strongly with measurements of environmental plastic pollution — a significant demonstration of how the environment is responding to the pressures we are placing on it,” says Aleksej Zelezniak, a professor at Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden.

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